Institutional Scholarship :: Browsing by Author "Wang, Shu-wen"

Browsing by Author "Wang, Shu-wen"

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#AloneTogether during COVID-19: Psychosocial, Behavioral and Cognitive Factors Mediate the Link between Relational Mobility and Distress
(2021) Benjamin, Laurel; Wang, Shu-wen
The COVID-19 pandemic has considerably impacted many people's lives, precipitating an emerging psychological crisis. As an era in which many of the world's people had engaged in some degree of self-isolation, this study sought to examine cultural differences inindividuals' feelings of loneliness and psychological distress between August and September of 2020 as a function of their society's Relational Mobility (i.e., the degree to which a society provides individuals with opportunities to voluntarily form and terminate relationships as desired). In the current study, 302 adults from the United States, Mexico, and Japan completed an online survey on their experiences with psychological distress and loneliness during COVID-19, which included measures of cultural values, coping strategies, social expectations, and social technology use. Additionally, participants completed measures on the degree of connectedness and separation they felt during COVID-19, using two psychometrically valid scales that were newly developed from qualitative pilot data. Results revealed that Relational Mobility negatively predicted both psychological distress and loneliness. Multiple mediator path analyses revealed that four factors—Unmet Romantic Expectations, Approach Coping, Connection Appraisal, and Social Technology Use—explained these negative links. When further examining different forms of social technology use, exploratory analyses revealed that while social media and gaming positively predicted feelings of psychological distress and loneliness, videoconferencing, a more naturalistic form of social technology use, negatively predicted distress and loneliness. Our findings offer insight into the mechanisms underlying cultural differences in pandemic-related distress and hold the potential toinform clinical interventions and policy for future global crises.
Asian American Solidarity with Black Lives Matter: Predictors of Own-group and Out-group Activism Among Asian Americans
(2022) Zhu, Anita; Wang, Shu-wen
Objectives: Research on Asian American activist literature is a limited and neglected area of study. This study examined the predictive effects of perceived discrimination, politicized racial identity, model minority myth (MMM), and belief in meritocracy on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI; own-group) activism and support for Black Lives Matter (BLM; out-group activism). Method: Participants completed a survey on their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors concerning AAPI activism and cross-racial support with Black Americans. All participants identified as Asian American or Pacific Islander (N = 117, Mage = 29.6, 52.1% women), were generally well-educated (68.3% had a bachelor's degree or higher), and mostly identified as politically left-leaning (87.9%). Results: Controlling for age, gender, and political orientation, the results of the linear regression models showed that perceived discrimination positively predicted own-group activism and politicized racial identity positively predicted out-group activism. Additionally, the hierarchical multiple regression models revealed that internalized MMM and meritocracy beliefs moderated the relationship between perceived discrimination and own-group activism, while own-group activism moderated the relationship between politicized racial identity and out-group activism. Conclusions: This research presents contrasting results from previous literature on Asian American activism and solidarity with BLM, highlighting the importance of continued research on the model minority myth for understanding and strengthening cross-racial solidarity between Asian Americans and Black Americans. Keywords: model minority myth, meritocracy, discrimination, group consciousness, activism, BLM, Asian Americans.
Body Image Discrepancy: The Role of Culture as a Moderator
(2016) Moscoso-Torres, Clarianne; Wang, Shu-wen
A surge of research pertaining to body image suggests that holding a discrepancy between one’s perceived physical attributes and the ideal physical attributes leads to body dissatisfaction, which consequently causes mental health problems and maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors. It should be noted that most of the body image research has used non-Hispanic European American women, thus giving little attention to the role that certain cultural factors such as relational values orientation has on individuals from different cultures. Thus the purpose of the present study was to explore the extent to which being from a collectivistic or individualistic culture influences the relationship between different types of body image discrepancies, and behavioral and mental health problems. It was hypothesized that because Hispanics and Asian Americans tend to ascribe to collectivistic values, they would report more negative outcomes when they perceived their ideal and expected bodies from a societal standpoint. On the other hand it was expected that because European Americans tend to ascribe to individualistic values, they would report more negative outcomes when they perceived their ideal and expected bodies from a personal standpoint. Our findings did not fully support our hypotheses. However it was found that, in comparison to the collectivistic group, the individualistic group consistently reported more negative outcomes when they had greater body image discrepancies. These findings suggest that there are other cultural factors independent of relational values that influence the way one perceives his or her body, which can lead to mental health problems and disordered eating.
Body Image Discrepancy: The Role of Culture as a Moderator
(2016) Tauriello, Sara; Wang, Shu-wen
Prior research has shown associations between body image discrepancies and negative outcomes, including: disordered eating behaviors, negative affect, increased depression, increased social and appearance anxiety, decreased self-esteem, and decreased overall well-being. These associations have been found across many ethnic groups, however few studies have examined the effect of culture on the relationship between body image discrepancies and negative outcomes. The current study seeks to examine whether cultural variables (e.g. independent self-construal, interdependent self-construal, Individualism, Collectivism) moderate the established relationship between discrepancy and outcomes. The sample consisted of Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and European Americans. Hypotheses included: main effects for all discrepancies on negative outcomes; moderating effects of collectivism and interdependence for the actual – societal ideal and actual – societal ought discrepancies; and moderating effects of individualism and independence for the actual – personal ideal and actual – personal ought discrepancies. Results only partially supported the hypotheses with significant main effects being reported for only 11 of the possible 32 body image discrepancy models. Additionally, individualism served as a significant moderator only in four discrepancy models, while collectivism showed a pattern of null associations, but served as a protective factor against negative outcome in one model. Overall, the current study indicates culture may have differential effects based on ethnic group, but future studies should address the influence more fully.
Children and Video Games: An Extensive Look At Health & Nutrition Interventions
(2022) Thai, Brian; Wang, Shu-wen
This paper takes a deep dive into the ways children can learn about nutrition and exercise, finding that SES and social relationships and environments were some of the most important factors that affected a child's learning. Then the paper takes a look at interventions for both nutrition and exercise, looking for common themes and gaps in the literature, finding that interventions are the most effective when they provide access to resources and addresses the previously mentioned learning factors. On the other hand, some setbacks are that most of these interventions don't do much outside of the school environment and most of the effectiveness depends on the child and if they are interested in these interventions or not. The thesis closes with a discussion of video games being a very effective intervention that can cover most of the problems that normal interventions have, but problems arise through balancing entertainment and education for nutrition video games and conflicting reports on issues of exercise intensity for exercise games as well as overall cost and technical issues for all types of games. Overall the thesis concludes that nutritional interventions are effective when they involve both education and access to resources, exercise interventions are effective when they keep the child engaged in exercise, and video games can be a way to address the problems with current health interventions.
Comorbidities among Four Major Clinical Disorders
(2016) Himelstein, Robyn; Wang, Shu-wen
The current investigation provides a substantive overview of the epidemiology and etiological models of four comorbidities involving substance use disorders, depression, and schizophrenia. I first describe the symptoms and prevalence rates of depression and schizophrenia and the incidence of smoking and alcohol use. I then discuss the comorbidities of depression and smoking, depression and alcohol, schizophrenia and smoking, and schizophrenia and alcohol. I subsequently describe the effect of the comorbidities on the prognosis of depression and schizophrenia and treatment difficulties regarding these combined disorders. I close by offering implications and recommendations for treatment and prevention of the four comorbidities.
Cultural Differences in Reciprocal and Mutual Social Support
(2016) Shiv, Divya; Wang, Shu-wen
Social support is an invaluable component of our lives, and yet the way we perceive, use and benefit from support depends on one’s cultural background. Through two studies, we explored the differences between reciprocity and mutuality to examine whether different cultures benefit from and evaluate these two types of social support differently. In our first study, we examined the benefits of mutuality and reciprocity for European-American (EA) female friend pairs and Asian American (AA) female friend pairs. Results indicated that EAs experience the least amount of anxiety when in highly reciprocal friendships, particularly when the reciprocal support is emotional in nature, whereas AAs experience more anxiety in highly reciprocal friendships, suggesting that reciprocity is beneficial for EAs’ mental health but not for AAs’ mental health. In our second study, we explored how people perceive support interactions by asking participants from the United States and India to listen to a scripted and audio-recorded mutual or non-mutual interaction between two friends, and then to evaluate each friend and the overall interaction. Results indicated that Indians did not perceive a difference between mutual and non-mutual interactions for each individual friend, whereas the European-Americans felt more negatively in the non-mutual interaction compared to the mutual interaction for each individual friend. The results indicate that our audio interactions likely assessed reciprocity instead of mutuality, suggesting that European-Americans view reciprocal support interactions, and reciprocal relationships, more positively than non-reciprocal interactions, while Indians do not evaluate reciprocal support interactions differently from non-reciprocal interactions.
Cultural Perceptions of Mental Illnesses and the Effect on Stigma: A Case Study from Italy and its Implications for the United States
(2014) Atal, Zara R.; Wang, Shu-wen
Mental illnesses are a growing contributor to the global burden of disease. While some countries, like Italy, have developed comprehensive mental health care plans to prevent, treat, and take care of people suffering from mental illnesses, other countries, like the United States, have been unable to give full spectrum care. One of the key problems is the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illnesses that prevents people from getting the help they need and societies from offering effective health care plans. Stigma and discrimination are often informed by the perceptions people have about the causes and best treatments for mental illnesses, perceptions that are influenced by the cultures in which they are embedded. By reviewing other countries' mental health care systems and the influence of cultural perceptions on stigma and discrimination, we can begin to improve the mental health care system in the United States. The current research focuses specifically on Italy's mental health care system, which was the first country to adopt deinstitutionalization and which has one of the most successful mental health care systems in the world. A small pilot study with 10 participants was conducted in Milan, Italy to examine perceptions of causes and treatments for mental illnesses among Italian community members and to determine the effect of contact on their affective emotions and desire for social distance. Results show a belief among Italian community members in the diathesis stress model, a strong preference for rehabilitation and community integration, and a positive effect of contact in decreasing stigma. Areas for improvement and future research are discussed. Keywords: causal beliefs, cultural perceptions, mental health, treatment, stigma, rehabilitation
Culturally-Competent Schizophrenia Treatment: A multimodal synthesis of developing a culturally-competent treatment for schizophrenia in urban settings
(2018) Kopelowicz, Ryan Harrison; Wang, Shu-wen; Gordon, Elizabeth
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that is comprised of multiple types of symptoms and is recognized as one of ten most affecting mental disorders in the world disorders affecting nearly .7% of the world population. Due to forces of globalization and mass migration of persons from the Global South to North American and Western-European countries, there must be a reconsideration of how treatment for this prevalent disorder to attain a culturally-competent treatment guideline accepted by the international psychiatric community. The first chapter is an assessment of the criteria that defines schizophrenia and the prevalence and incidence rates that require for there to be a focus on urban residential zones. The second chapter looks at the cultural views and various expressions of schizophrenia, and looking at what the potential risk factors are. The final chapter assesses how treatment has been performed thus far and then trying to synthesis potential guidelines that would promote optimal culturally-competent treatment.
Culture and the College Experience: Stress, Stressor Domains, and Social Support Seeking in International Asian, Asian American, and European American College Students
(2015) Broomfield, Caroline; Wang, Shu-wen
Cultural differences among International Asians, Asian Americans, and European Americans have been shown to be associated with differences in stress, coping mechanisms such as social support, and attitudes toward the college experience. Prior research has found associations between typically collectivistic or interdependent Asian cultural values and issues of stress, motivation, and coping that are highly relevant to college students. This study uses a crosssectional, correlational questionnaire design to examine how these groups differ in their goals and expectations for college, their susceptibility to Achievement or Interpersonal Stressors, and their preferences in social support use and social support sources. International Asians showed lower total levels of stress and lower levels of Achievement Stress than Asian Americans and European Americans. Students from Eastern cultures had different attitudes toward the goals of the college experience and varied on measures of social support.
“Do I have to?” versus “Do I want to?”: Cultural Differences in Providing Social Support
(2018) Romens, Rachel E.; Wang, Shu-wen
The current study addresses gaps in social support literature by examining how collectivistic and individualistic sociocultural contexts influence the provision of social support. Specifically, our seminal study examined how culture impacts support provision in terms of relationship aspects between the provider and receiver, emotions associated with providing support, and feelings of obligation to provide support. We utilized a cross-sectional, mixed methods design to examine support provision experiences of Indian (IN) and North American (U.S. and Canada; NA) participants. A sample of 205 NAs and 145 INs completed open-ended descriptions of situations where support was either expected or not expected, single-item responses about feelings of obligation to provide support in different relationships, and various cultural and social support self-report measures. Results from Chi-square tests of independence and moderated multiple regressions suggest that the IN and NA cultural regions differ in perceptions and behaviors of support provision, such that overall, INs reported and exhibited more concerns and behaviors of social support provision compared to their NA counterparts. These findings largely align with previous cultural social support research that finds collectivistic groups place more value on and are more attuned to the needs of the group rather than the self. This study highlights the importance of cultural group differences in support provision and its relevance for understanding interpersonal relationships.
Ethnocultural Patterns in Social Support Mismatch: Links with Relationship Satisfaction and Well-being
(2019) Xueting, Ni; Wang, Shu-wen
Stress is a psycho-socio-emotional and/or physiological response to a stressor, and social support may be an effective way of combating the negative influence of stress. However, social support comes in a variety of forms, and the different cultural backgrounds of individuals lead to different perceptions of relationships with others. As a result, cultural background also influences the type of social support desired by the individuals. The current research is a two-part study that focuses on exploring ethnocultural patterns in the links between different kinds of social support and support mis/match with relationship satisfaction, psychological wellbeing, and self-efficacy. Results showed that there is a strong link between emotional support mismatch and relationship and wellbeing for European Americans, and a strong link between instrumental support mismatch and relationship and wellbeing for East Asian Americans. In addition, there was a strong positive link between over support and high satisfaction for Mexican. Various ethnocultural patterns regarding kinds of support and support mis/match were found, showing that support are perceived in different ways in different ethnocultural groups.
Gender-Identity and Gender-Ideology Discrepancies in Same-Sex Relationships
(2016) Montaque, Kayla; Le, Benjamin; Wang, Shu-wen
Gender-identity and gender-ideology discrepancies were examined in individuals currently in same-sex romantic relationships. Gender-identity discrepancy is a discrepancy between your biological sex and gendered behavior. Gender-ideology discrepancy is a discrepancy between your gendered behavior and your ideology towards gender roles. In this study, gender-ideology discrepancy predicted avoidant attachment, anxious attachment, low relationship satisfaction, and high commitment. Gender-identity discrepancy predicted avoidant attachment, anxious attachment, positive well-being, and high relationship satisfaction. In addition, avoidant attachment negatively predicted relationship satisfaction. Lastly, relationship satisfaction predicted positive well-being. Together, these findings suggest that gender-identity and gender-ideology discrepancies interact differently with various dynamics of romantic relationships, avoidantly attached partners are less satisfied with their relationship, and homosexuals who are more satisfied with their relationships have greater well-being.
"I was promised a dance career": The effects of sex trafficking on mental and physical health
(2014) Reilly, Megan; Wang, Shu-wen
Human trafficking is a large global problem, with an estimated minimum of 20 million people enslaved worldwide. This form of modern-day slavery can take two forms: commercial sexual exploitation or labor exploitation. Traffickers exploit their victims through both physical and psychological control. This paper will be focused on the mental and physical health issues faced by women who have been commercially sexually exploited. Women who have been sex trafficked face a number of mental and physical health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, HIV, and more. Studies that have been done using samples of trafficked and prostituted women have given us an idea of the prevalence of these problems in this population, but there are many methodological and conceptual concerns regarding these previous studies. There is a great need for more research on this population in order to provide better services to help them.
Improving Treatments for Alcohol Use Disorder: The Next Step for Alcoholics Anonymous
(2014) Rojas, Diane; Wang, Shu-wen
The current thesis first identifies the condition known as alcohol use disorder, its prevalence across the population, and the current treatments for the disorder. Next, we give particular attention to the program of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and its important function as the most publicly recognized form of treatment for alcohol use disorder, also known as alcoholism. Subsequently, a recommendation for the future treatment of alcoholism is offered detailing how treatments must be combined and systematized according to types of personalities of people with alcohol use disorder (PAUDs) and types of behaviors exhibited by PAUDs. Finally, it is suggested how and why practices of Alcoholics Anonymous can be improved to produce successful rates, including a deduction of reasons it has remained unchanged thus far.
Intersectional Identity: Psychological Well-Being of Queer of Color Individuals
(2015) Diaz, Emily; Wang, Shu-wen
Recent studies have focused on the ever growing field of identity development in specific cultural identifiers, such as sexual orientation and racial identity. By conducting a literature review of material pertaining to these areas of study, this article summarizes several key theories pertaining to the identity development of queer of color adolescents and emerging adults. By analyzing the potential combined effects of resilience, minority stress, identity development skills, and affirmation, new conclusions are drawn about what social interventions may help queer of color individuals develop social identities with greater ease. Potential conflicts of queer of color identity, such as sexual risk behavior and internalized homophobia, are discussed. The article ends by suggesting future directions of research so that more accurate, generalizable information may be gathered about this vastly expansive, under-examined field of anthropological and psychological study.
Nature versus Nurture Dichotomy in Psychological Theory
(2014) Marrero, Robert; Wang, Shu-wen
This paper reviews the literature relating to the longstanding debate in psychological research and theory concerning whether nature or nurture is the stronger determinant of human nature, individual personality traits, and behaviors. First it examines the origins of the two perspectives, the leading conceptualizations and proponents of the different theories, as well as the major social and psychological effects associated with them. The study then discusses a modern synthesis and some theories designed to reconcile the separate nature and nurture views into an integrated approach that recognizes the causes of human behaviors as a combination and interaction of the forces of both nature and nurture. The paper concludes with an analysis of how an integrated nature/nurture approach could apply to the investigation of interpersonal relationship processes, and suggests areas for future study.
Parent-Child Relationship Quality Moderates the Association between Strict Parenting Behaviors and Child Help-Seeking and Mental Health for Asian American and European American College Students
(2024) Katowitz, Julia; Wang, Shu-wen
Studies have typically examined the effects of parenting on child outcomes through the Baumrind Parenting styles which provide an inaccurate view of East Asian parenting. Using a cross-sectional self-report survey design, we aimed to understand how isolated dimensions of parental strictness affect child outcomes, and whether parent-child relationship quality and Asian American ethnic identity moderated this interaction. In our sample of N=38 students, we found that European American students (n=26) reported higher parental solicitation, help-seeking, and self-esteem than Asian American students (n=12). Parent-child communication positively predicted help-seeking and self-esteem for all participants, and Asian American identity was adaptive in the relationship between parent-child communication and help-seeking. Parents’ expressive disclosure of warmth exacerbated the effect of child disclosure on mental health. The significant impact of parental solicitation and child disclosure on self-esteem, help-seeking, and mental health suggests that parent-child communication may promote social and emotional well-being.
Psychology: You Can Take That to the Bank The Discipline’s Role in the Modern Retail Banking Industry
(2018) Dekle, Anna; Wang, Shu-wen
Throughout the history of retail banking, there have been a multitude of challenges that have arisen and shaped various aspects of this industry. A review of this historical account helps establish the current difficulties facing retail banks—(1) the people, both in terms of those inside the workplace through organization, structure, and dynamics of the employees as well as those outside of the workplace through understanding customer behavior and (2) the digital transformation as a consequence of technological advances as well as new forms of competition. An appraisal of past literature not only reveals how each of these are indeed relevant obstacles, but also how each has been discussed, and, furthermore, how psychology can effectively address these roadblocks. It is with this last consideration that a plan will be constructed with the intent of guiding retail banks to remain vital not just in the present but, far into the future. Although there may be a variety of solutions to these challenges, this specific paper will highlight the role that psychology as a field can have. This is accomplished by discussing the manner by which various subfields—such as organizational psychology, social psychology, consumer psychology, and behavioral economics—can positively contribute in both handling the people in the workplace and the customers integral to a bank’s success as well as addressing the digital transformation that has occurred.
Reciprocity and Mutuality of Social Support Across Cultures
(2016) Marino, Laura; Wang, Shu-wen
We performed two studies designed to evaluate the effects of reciprocity and mutuality of social support across cultures on satisfaction with a personal close friendship as well as an evaluation of a simulated dialogue between two friends. In Study 1, we examined the role of reciprocity in determining relationship satisfaction, mental health, and self-esteem among European American (EA) and Asian/Asian American (AA) female friend pairs studying at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges and the University of Pennsylvania. Each individual completed a series of measures about supportive behavior in the friendship, as well as questionnaires about communal orientation, relationship satisfaction, mental health, and selfesteem. The results indicated that there was a main effect of reciprocity and an interaction of culture such that EA participants were more strongly affected by reciprocity match, in line with previous supportive equity research. Study 2 examined the effect of mutuality on appraisals of support dialogues. Conducted on mTurk with participants from the United States and India, this study consisted of a prerecorded mutual or nonmutual dialogue and a series of evaluation questions, as well as a short narrative about a recent stressor and a series of culturally driven questionnaires such as the communal orientation scale. Results demonstrated supported the hypotheses that the Indians would score higher on measures of communal orientation than EAs and that overall impressions of mutual dialogues would be more favorable than those for nonmutual dialogues. There was found to be a main effect of dialogue support type and an interaction of culture such that EAs were found to be more affected by support type, contradicting the second hypothesis. These results are attributed chiefly to harmony values that are omnipresent in Indian lives.

Browsing by Author "Wang, Shu-wen"

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