Studying the
Cultural and Structural Basis for Stigma and Stigma Experiences in
Relation to Help-Seeking, Thesis Summary & Literature Review
In this dissertation research project I have
sought to integrate observations of communities and interviews concerning
personal communities and social networks in order to gain important insights
into how interactions and personal connections can be impacted by cultural and
socio-economic influences and conditions that shape everyday help-seeking
practices and interactions and actions to give and receive a diverse range of
support. I have
sought to collect information on routine help-seeking and how individuals
obtain or overlook support from those in their network or choose to conceal
reveal personal problems to others in their personal support community. I am
also interested in investigating if options to obtain support or prospective
assistance may be avoided because of the possibility that inquiring or opening
up about one’s problems or needs may trigger negative outcomes on the part of
the person facing a crisis of some type. One of these consequences could increase or
instigate negative self-evaluations that may undermine the positive self-image
and identity of the help seeker. This impact of negative self-evaluation may be
increased by some complex combination of cultural outlooks or dispositions and
their class or socio-economic status in the surrounding community and larger
society.
I have sought to better understand and explore the underlying cultural as
well as structural differences in the personal communities, personal networks,
and nuances in the types and ranges of support interchanged between individuals
of young adults. I have chosen to
investigate for the purposes of this dissertation project a sample of immigrant
groups and individuals residing in the United States, in order to interview
individuals from Central/Mediterranean Europe and the Caribbean in one,
English language given the limited time and means available to the current
researcher, since interviewing in multiple languages would be overly costly and
impossible at this instant. I narrowed
by choice to interviewing and observing individuals of Italian – American and
Dominican-American origins and heritage, due to the criteria of being numerous
in cities on the East coast of the US (close to where I live). One critical objective has been to
investigate the interaction of complex cultural and social structural variables
in terms of how individuals form and activate their networks, how these networks
operate as sources of support during some periods of crisis, and how personal
communities may function differently in Italian-American versus
Dominican-American communities, and may present different opportunities and
obstacles to obtain or not obtain the types of support needed, when facing
crisis, and as needed.
I have tried to examine the full circle of how social interactions occur
and become cemented through the give and take of interpersonal exchanges and
overall support processes and interactions involving emotional as well as
tangible transactions. I initially sought to focus my inquiries on the
comparisons and contrasts between the interactions and exchanges, and personal
communities constructed, between
Italian-American and Dominican-American youth between the ages of 18 and 39
years of age.
In this dissertation study and intensive interviews and close-range
observations in the local Italian and Dominican communities and neighborhoods, I have spent over four years observing and
interviewing individuals and their communities in the New England area
between Boston and Lowell, Massachusetts. Italian immigrants have lived in this
area for over one hundred years and have come to establish close knit and
extensive communities throughout the Northeast US and Western US.. Dominican Americans initially came to the US
much more recently, increasing in numbers only after the 1940s, in the post
WWII era, less than half of the interval from the earlier Italian immigration
boom. Dominicans only a couple of years ago, 2012, celebrated fifty years of their
contributions as immigrants to American society and culture.
I had chosen to investigate and interview individuals from these two
immigrant groups in order to be able to consider the intricacies of factors
including the length of time individuals have spent in America, as well as the
impact on the social relationships and interactions ad formation of personal
support communities of the processes of cultural assimilation, continuity and
change, and cultural transmission that have been occurring across one or more
generations in the host, immigrant communities and surrounding cultural, class,
and socio-economic and political environments in New England. I identified cultural variables to consider
and intensively investigate because I chose to not only conduct interviews but
to undertake close-up observations over four year of interactions and
relationships to identify the subtle and immensely culturally nuanced ways in
which individual immigrants, including 1st, 2nd, 3rd,
4th or more generation Italian or Dominican-Americans, initiated or
not or overtly versus covertly communicated their incipient or immediate need
for help in times of some identifiable crisis, trouble or difficulty.
In terms of the structural variables, I
have sought to evaluate the relative strength and importance of class and other
socio-economic factors, to try to ascertain how they may intertwine or
intersect with cultural variables in impacting or influencing the role or
relevance of cultural factors that invariably continually reformulate and in an
ongoing manner shape and reconstitute help-seeking dispositions and behaviors
in the lives of immigrant youth or young adults.
In this study I have adapted the
lengthy and elaborate research instruments developed by Barry Wellman for the
East York Studies (extracted, modified and shortened) (whose results were
published in 1990). I have also designed new questions and expanded some of the
existing questions in the support and perceived support, as well as demographic
sections to collect data on the actual size, composition, and structure of
individual support systems. My objective in redesigning the survey instrument
has been to be able to collect more extensive and distinctive types of quantitative
and qualitative data to elucidate the more complete characteristics of
individual personal communities and support networks.
I have selected excerpts of the much longer Wellman instrument to solicit
information on the core and secondary support networks, as well as relatives
external to the individual’s support system. I have also added and expanded the
types of questions used to collect more detailed demographic data and to better
and more clearly depict the types and quantity/quality of support interactions
and transactions flowing among members in the individual’s social support
network. These new and revised questions were designed to more effectively discern
and compare the contents and structure of individual support networks, as well
as the influence of specific cultural and structural variables on the network
formation and building processes, and types of support-seeking (and avoidance
of help-seeking) styles and strategies used.
This research project builds on a significant and large body of recent
research conducted in the discipline of sociology by Dr. Barry Wellman, and
other social scientists of social support, such as Dr. Sarason, Ricardo
Stanton-Salazar, and Peggy Thoits, and more recently in the discipline of psychology
by Shelley E. Taylor, David K. Sherman, Heejung S. Kim (2004, 2008) and
colleagues at UCLA. In research
conducted over the past decade, these latter scholars found that the more
collectivistic Asian cultural dispositions, that value the family and groups
over individuals, tended to avoid overt and open requests for assistance and
therefore discouraged taking the risk of self-disclosure of personal troubles--
especially to the closest supporters, as well as in general even to
strangers. These researchers theorized that Asian cultures instead valued the role of “unmobilized support” and the
preservation of social ties, which has also been linked to the low numbers of
Asian Americans seeking treatment from therapists. It is also quite
possible that Taylor’s Asian cultural norms necessitated a more subtle and
culturally appropriate mode of communicating personal needs and, using more
indirect or insinuated modes of communication and interchanges that hint rather
than openly inquire or inform prospective supporters of one’s needs or crises,
and instead of imploring others to offer help.
According to Taylor’s research team’s interpretation of her research results,
individuals who identified themselves as either Asian-American or those born in
Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan or other Asian or Southeast Asian countries also tended
to obtain more support through general social interactions and companionship
rather than via the specific disclosure of their problems or personal crises.
Taylor and colleagues findings suggested that those who self-identified as
Asian or Asian-American preferred not to risk either the stigma or loss of face
that might result from the disclosure of problems. In short they sought to save
face and limit the demands imposed on those in their circle of family and
friends. Therefore it was actually more beneficial in the short as well as long
run to not disclose the specific details of their problems to others whose ties
they highly valued. According to Taylor and colleagues research findings, those
of Asian American descent, regardless of the specific country of origin tended
to express the desire to NOT risk the loss or overburdening of their closest
supporters, and as a result suppressed discussions of personal troubles to
significant others.
Their survey findings suggested that support avoidance was directly and
most strongly linked to the high value placed on ties and the greater
importance of preserving, stabilizing, and retaining their social ties and
interpersonal support systems-- over the possible or ostensible benefits they
might personally receive in the form of tangible or emotional resources, solace
or direct assistance of other types. These trends in Taylor’s study strongly
contrasted with the outcomes for their Euro-American respondents, who in their
study apparently exhibited no reservations or concerns about tapping their
social ties to meet their myriad needs, and apparently revealed no evidence of
trepidation of any type in directly asking for support or help. Nor did
Euro-Americans apparently suggest that there were any loss of face, hesitation,
potential losses or stigmas associated with or resulting from help-seeking of
any type.
Summary of Phase 1 and 2 of the Research
Project:
In the research currently being conducted the majority of the 54
interviews were conducted at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and Lowell
and with students from other New England area colleges interviewed and
recruited locally in New England. I have sought to examine whether some of the
help-seeking trends and behavioral and attitudinal patterns identified and discovered
in Taylor’s studies of Asians and Euro-Americans (to the extent correctly
interpreted or not) may be evidenced in other cultural groups than those
originally studied.
For the preliminary and initial phase of this study, completed in 2011, I
used a mixed-method approach combining both indepth qualitative interviews with
quantitative measures of coping, support-seeking attitudes, and perceived
support. I used and adapted/developed two established and previously validated
survey instruments: the original COPE instrument designed by Taylor and
colleagues had been used intact, and a second instrument has been adapted from
Barry Wellman’s East York Study instrument, a very limited and abbreviated
version, and supplemented with questions I designed to collect detailed data on
social support networks and the self-reported perceived support measures and types
and dimensions of support received by supporters (and the reciprocal support
provided by the respondent to supporters). In this initial phase of
interviewing, I collected 41 interviews using both a convenience and quota
sampling strategy to select undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and
39, recruited from classes, student clubs, referral and chance meetings
primarily from the UMass, Boston and Lowell campuses. In the initial study
referred to above, I used the quota sampling technique to attempt to select
equal numbers (10 each) of students of Dominican, Hispanic (from diverse
Hispanic cultural heritages), African American, and Italian/Mediterranean
cultural heritages.
In my second phase of research I have chosen to interview and investigate the
Italian- American and Dominican-American populations in New England, also
recruited from UMass, Boston and UMass, Lowell, as well as other area colleges
in the communities at large, through convenience and quota sampling, chance
encounters, and snow ball sampling to a limited extent. I chose to interview and recruit individuals
from these two immigrant groups, one a white Central and Southern Mediterranean
Catholic ethnic minority, and the other a multi-racial group of color, from the
Caribbean, of more recent immigrant status ad origin, both of whom have
established relatively large, visible residential communities in New England (Italians
in the North End and Dominicans in Jamaica Plain and Lawrence) which I felt was
an essential component of this larger dissertation study in order to make a
significant contribution to the study of social networks of immigrants in the
US. I also selected both
Italian-American and Dominican-American immigrants due to these groups both
being identified and treated as stigmatized racial, linguistic, and ethnic
minorities from their initial presence in America. Italian-Americans were very
dark-skinned with dark hair and other physical features, while
Dominican-American immigrants had curely hair and dark complexions, African
facial features and hair color and texture, resulting in various forms of
maltreatment, challenge to integration, acceptance, integration, employment
obstacles, and open discrimination among other abuses due to being recent
immigrants, and their differences in appearance and linguistic background from
the mainstream, dominant anglo-saxon protestant American citizens. I also
wanted to include the important if not integral characteristics of the length
of time immigrant groups have spent in the US before the interview, comparing
the more recently immigrated Dominican- Americans, only now celebrating c. 50
years of Dominican contributions to America and the much older (100 to 150 years
or earlier) and longer assimilation and immigration experiences of Italian Sicilian
immigrants, who had arrived in large numbers at the turn of the 19th/20th
century.
I chose Italian-Americans, despite the fact that they have been considered
white ethnic populations, who were treated substantially like minorities from
the outset of their immigration to America, and despite not being part of the
dominant “white” claimed majority who have been identified as contributing to
the emergence of mainstream American culture. Ideally my doctoral adviser had
instructed and encouraged me to choose a more dominant, mainstream white
control group, to test Taylor’s findings about the so-called white
Euro-American observed characteristics of freely and openly soliciting support
of all types as needed to cope with crises and personal needs. I had decided
that testing the Taylor outcomes was not my main focus or priority
objectives. Instead I sought to compare
groups that immigrated at different times, who were both Catholic, and had
experienced forms of discrimination, and had limited access to literacy and
educational opportunities, and income-producing activities. My overall objectives has been to advance the
studies and depth of understanding of immigrant experiences, the creation of
support networks and personal communities, and elucidate the role of language
and culture of origin, socio-economic status, age, gender, and the impact of
these diverse factors on the creation and operation of social ties as modes of
support, and coping strategies of these two populations relative to and
consideration and contrast with my MA thesis results of the other Latino and
African American minority populations, as well as Italian and Dominican-American
populations, studied in phase 1.
To my knowledge my dissertation project is unique in attempting to collect
indepth, detailed data on actual support transactions together with social
support network data, perceived support data, and the mostly quantitative data
on the interest in confiding in others, and in various types of coping,
including support-seeking and avoidance, strategies.
Summary of the Problem Statement:
My objective has been to examine and elucidate the direct as well as
indirect impact and consequences of these diverse cultural and demographic
variables and network structural characteristics on the formation and
construction of support networks and personal communities. I intend to identify self-reported, help-seeking
behavioral and coping trends-- in periods of crisis and distress-- experienced
by young adults in college, and in relation to stressors experienced in
collegiate settings. I have sought to study and elucidate the roles played by
culture, socio-economic and immigration statuses and histories on how personal
communities and support networks are now established and have evolved once
immigrants moved from the home to the host country, and undertook steps to
adapt to the new host country setting, language, local cultures, and
sub-cultures, and so on. I also sought to elucidate how these components of
socio-economic status and identity as immigrants have intersected with the
various home and host cultural traditions and values. I am also seeking to examine how these
attributes and behaviors were influenced by different local conditions and
contexts, and identity reinvention and formation, and reformulation,
processes. One objective has been to try
to identify and observe and consequently elucidate the complexity and
intertwining of the language and cultural practices of self-disclosure,
help-seeking and personal community operation, and reconstitution in the new
host country setting and modern context of social media and globalization of
communication and transportation technologies.
I. Literature Review:
I
immediately and initially sought to clarify the role of cultural factors and dispositions
in shaping the “art” and mechanisms of social support- seeking and help-seeking,
and personal community formation which itself has been a relatively new area of
study within the realm of sociological and psychological research, especially
in the sub-discipline of the sociology of medicine and mental health. Extensive
research has shown the significance of the link between social support and
mental health, particularly the benefits of enhancing an individual’s ability
to cope with the traumatic as well as routine stressors in life as well as
overcome periods of more intense trauma and distress (Thoits, 1995; Cohen,
1988; Cohen and Wills, 1985; Cohen and Pressman, 2004). However, the most recent
research on support-seeking behavior strongly supports the view that theories
of social support characteristics and benefits have been largely defined from a
“Western” social relationship and “individualistic” cultural perspective. These
scholars emphasize the significance and imperativeness of undertaking
cross-cultural analyses of support processes, and defining and developing new
models of help-seeking based on alternative ideas and new forms of data,
informed by non-Western concepts and ideas.
I hope this study will be an initial contribution to this much more
ambitious, larger endeavor.
My
research here will attempt to contribute to the cross cultural investigation
and presentation of new, contemporary social support renditions developed
through examining, comparing and contrasting support processes of both
Dominican- American and Italian American individuals, using both qualitative
and quantitative comparisons of the nature, etiology, and use of personal
communities and social support systems. I have also collected in-depth and more
open-ended qualitative data on the content and characteristics of support,
support structures, and support seeking practices, behaviors and transactions.
My current overall objective has been to complete interviews to be able to better
understand how supportive connections and actions can be identified how
interactions involving the exchange of information, resources, and emotional
support or companionship may operate in distinct sub-cultural settings and
population contexts.
Historical Background
Georg
Simmel was one of the first social scientists to recognize the significance of routine
interactions and inter-personal relationships for shaping the behavior of
individuals, ensconced in and defined by their connections to their heritage communities
and interpersonal ties and community ties, as social networks (1950: 114-128). To Simmel, (1950: 118-120) human
beings were more than mere individuals, even in the western social contexts he
studied, albeit in the earlier stages of urbanizing industrial societies. Simmel
was one of the first social scientists to identify the importance of social
networks and the fundamental building blocks of social structure as the two-way
and three-way configurations of interaction: dyads and triads (1950: 118-142). Indeed,
Simmel emphasized the tremendous significance of the relationship between individuals
and collectives, and how the latter instilled culturally imbued and reinforced
dispositions, and the former was continually shaped by the norms of social
groups within which they have been connected, tightly or loosely. This was true
even when disconnected or distanced from the heritage community physically or
socially for periods of time--- like the immigrant who may have left the
homeland but continued to be molded, or influenced in varying degrees, by the host
country’s ways of life.
II.
The Background of Studies of Social
Support-seeking Behaviors and Approaches used in Studies of Social Support
Social
support has been defined as “information from others that one is loved and
cared for, esteemed and valued, and part of a network of communication and
mutual obligations” (Sherman, Ko, and Taylor, 2006: 1596, also borrowing from
Cobb, 1976 and Cohen and Wills, 1985). Researchers
of social support have identified several forms, manifested as tangible forms
of assistance in the form of material aid, as well as diverse types of less tangible
emotional, social, and belonging support obtained from interactions with those
with close and distant, stronger as well as weaker, ties. Support may be
provided by those such as spouses, siblings, friends, and relatives to
co-workers, neighbors, members of groups as well as casual acquaintances and
strangers (Sherman, Ko, and Taylor, 2006: 1596).
Conceptually,
social support has been operationalized using several main dimensions and modes
of study, the two principal forms being: “received support,” which is the study
of actual specific transactions and events, versus “perceived support,” which
by contrast is the study of the belief in the availability of support and the
degree of confidence that others will provide support when it is needed (Sarason,
Pierce, and Sarason, 1994: 154-156). Perceived support has been measured and
defined according to several dimensions, the main ones being 1) the “general”
belief one is loved and valued by others, and 2) the “perceived availability”
of a variety of specific types of support, such as “emotional, information,
[and] instrumental aid” (Sarason, Pierce, and Sarason, 1994: 157). Support
matching has also been related to the second form of perceived support, emphasizing
how closely support available matches the types of support needed. While
perceived support has been measured by self-reports and beliefs such as through
the “Social Support Questionnaire” or SSQ developed by Irwin and Barbara
Sarason and their colleagues, the study of received support has tended to
involve inventories of actual transactions and behaviors, such as through the
“Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors” or ISSB (Barrera, Sandler and
Ramsey, 1981). Most studies have focused
on one or the other aspect of social support, rarely both (for an example of
the latter see Sarason, Shearsin, Pierce, and Sarason, 1987).
Another
dimension related to both received and perceived support is the satisfaction
with or appraisal of the support itself based on a history of experiences,
interactions and support transactions (Sarason, Levine, Basham, and Sarason,
1983: 129-30). In the study of support seeking behavior, one of the newest
directions of support research has used both hypothetical and real behavioral
scenarios, focusing on the support seekers’ actual or anticipated behaviors in
times of distress and crisis. Support-seeking behavior studies use surveys,
interviews, experiments, and self-reported behavioral diaries, among other
strategies to examine why individuals may or may not seek support as a coping
strategy, and to whom individuals turn or avoid in search of support (Taylor,
et. al., 2004; Salazar and Spina, 2000; Stanton Salazar, 2001).
Mental and Physical Health and
Social Support
It
is the area of perceived support overall that has been the most often studied
and thoroughly investigated in connection with mental health research. Perceived
support has been associated with the most positive outcomes in mitigating,
preventing, or alleviating mental and physical health distress (see Cassel,
1976; Sarason, Pierce, and Sarason, 1994: 155-156; Son, Lin, and George, 2008).
The stress-buffering hypothesis formally articulated by John Cassel (1976), a
physician and epidemiologist, and Sidney Cobb (1976), a psychiatrist, introduced
the theoretical proposal that individuals with strong social ties and with
greater social support and assistance would weather health tribulations and
psychologically stressful circumstances better than those with less personal
resources of this type (Cohen and Pressman, 2004: 780). This characteristic has
also been called “resilience.”
By
being part of networks of caring and nurturing individuals, both Cobb and
Pressman believed that social support, particularly the perception [emphasis added] or belief one is loved and valued,
provided a form of protection against
risk and the adversities of life, (Cohen and Pressman, 2004: 780; Wethington
and Kessler, 1986: 78-80). Indeed, this “buffering” theory has been fairly
consistently supported by decades of research on diverse aspects of the role of
social support amongst a wide range of individuals, holding across categories
of sex, age, various life transitions, and some other specific categories, such
as those with chronic and serious illnesses and pregnant teens, adults with
coronary heart disease, etc. (Cohen and Pressman, 2004: 780-1; Lazarus and
Folman, 1984; Wethington and Kessler, 1986, Turner, 2006; Cohen, Doyle, Turner,
Alper, and Skoner, 2003; Cohen, 2002; Nakamura, et. al., 1997).
Researchers
have especially found that social support, sociability, and companionship have
a positive impact on mental health and are associated with fewer depressive
symptoms (Ueno, 2004:498-500). Indeed, high levels of support have been linked
with decreased rates of depressive symptoms and resilience in coping with
stressors. Specific studies of the impact of perceived support on susceptibility
to illnesses such as colds and influenza, have also found a significant
relationship between resistance to physical illness and the strength and size
of social support systems and networks (Pressman, Cohen, Miller, Barkin, Rabin,
and Treanor, 2005; Cohen, Underwood, and Gottlieb, 2000). Other critical
aspects identified included aspects of sociability such as extroversion and “positive
relationship style,” promoting resistance to illnesses (Cohen, Doyle, Turner,
Alper, and Skoner, 2003: 392-394).
These
benefits seem to be influences in part by cultural context, and some cultural
groups experience greater benefits than others. For instance, Shelley E. Taylor
and colleagues found that, unlike other cultural groups or communities, Asian
Americans or Asians derive, she has claimed, most of their effective support
from unutilized (received) support or
perceived support. Her research has
found that in some cases open requests for support or help could result in negative
outcomes, such as the over-taxing or exhaustion of one’s social connections. Her
research seems to have demonstrated that seeking or mobilizing actual support
can be accomplished in more subtle or covert as well as more overt and open
ways, (with varied results for each, based on cultural norms (Taylor, et al.,
2004: ). According to Taylor’s results and interpretations, in some cases
explicit requests for aid or material or emotional support could be interpreted
to become an additional source of stress because of the negative feelings,
(such as loss of face or shame), vulnerability or possible esteem reducing
consequences, and in some cases personal risks associated with the disclosure of
problems and needs (Cohen and Pressman, 2004: 780). Taylor and colleagues results and
interpretations suggest the possibility that overreliance or use of social
networks could over-tax or over-burden one’s inter-personal connections (Taylor,
et al., 2004: 344-5). In some cases and cultural settings, the fear of
jeopardizing close or important relationships may overcome one’s other needs
for companionship, inter-personal communication and self-disclosure. Her research outcomes caution and compel one
to consider the possible negative consequences of openly revealing one’s needs
and trying to mobilize one’s social support systems and needs, particularly
during a time of crisis (Sherman, Ko, and Taylor, 2006).
Overall
the studies of social support have largely focused on the positive outcomes of
social support in a wide variety of social contexts, environments, and
circumstances, generally grounded in the buffering hypothesis, while relatively
fewer studies identify and focus on the possible negative outcomes of support.
The negative outcomes of support have been largely linked to studies of at-risk
youth and adults and risky and anti-social behavior, such as the consumption of
drugs and alcohol stimulated by peer pressure and social ties with those
engaged in delinquent or criminal activities (Mancini and Huebner, 2004; Rosenfeld,
Richman, and Bowen, 2000).
Comparative Studies of Social
Support: Gender/Race/Ethnicity/SES
Truly
comparative studies of the social support systems and behaviors of diverse groups
and individuals, based on gender, race/ethnicity, or socio-economic status have
been very limited and rare. The study of
children’s as well as adult’s social support practices and mental health has
been substantially limited, and primarily focused on comparing males and
females, who are non-minority, middle class white populations (Colarossi and
Eccles, 2000; Colarossi, 2001: 235-6; Markward, McMillan, and Markward, 2003:
577-580; Colarissi, 2001: 235-6). The studies that have taken into
consideration or emphasized minority students have often addressed limited topics
such as: the negative or positive impact of social support (either
inducing and stimulating versus
suppressing anti-social behaviors) in relation to “at-risk” students behaviors,
such as delinquency, drug use, violence, criminal, and other anti-social or
self-destructive behaviors, as well as
dropping out of school (Dance, 2002; Rosenfeld, Richman, and Bowen, 2000;
Mancini and Huebner, 2004; and, Stanton-Salazar, 2001).
Most
often comparative studies have been based on one dimension, such as gender,
comparing the perceived support of boys and girls (Colarossi and Eccles, 2000)
or culture, for instance, contrasting the structures and support systems of
Taiwanese and the United States (Son, Lin, and George, 2008). A smaller number
of studies look at the intersection of several dimensions, such as a comparison
of African American and white youth in Appalachia or other comparisons of those
from minority from lower socio-economic backgrounds (Markstrom, Marshall and
Tyron, 2000; Way and Robinson, 2003). Few if any studies compare populations
from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, either as a single variable or in
tandem with other characteristics such as gender, race, culture or ethnicity. The
lack of studies that look at and compare multiple dimensions, such as
socio-economic status, culture, gender, race/ethnicity, and age has stimulated
me to pursue a comparative study that examines several of these dimensions in
relation to social support seeking attitudes and behavior.
These
studies still examined these issues with broad strokes statistical analyses of large-scale,
largely quantitative data bases (Crosnoe and Elder, 2004; Cornwell, 2003;
Aneshensel and Sucoff, 1996; Wellman and Wortley, 1992), and miss some of the
finer details obtainable from more in-depth qualitative interviews,
observations, and open ended responses. The personal stories and details, as
well as observations, of support seeking behaviors and support systems
therefore can not be captured in these macro-level studies. It is this more
nuanced, and more finely detailed, qualitative data, missing in the
larger-scale social psychological and sociological studies, that this analysis
will attempt to capture.
Impediments, Idiosyncratic Obstacles,
and Other Identifiable Projected Factors Inhibiting Help-Seeking Among Italian
and Dominican Americans and Other Young Adults of Color and Lower Class/SES
There
are many overlapping, interacting, and intersecting factors that may inhibit
individuals from confiding in others during a time of trouble, difficulty or
crisis. One of the conundrums of social science studies of counseling and
mental health, is why
individuals
of all ages, particularly youth and young adults, are often reluctant to
disclose their problems or challenges in coping with crises to others or
confide (i.e., feel comfortable confiding) in familiar or objective, unfamiliar
others in the course of obtaining counseling services or therapy. Counseling
studies have found that certain cultural groups have exacerbated problems in
relation to this issue, in light of negative information or attitudes toward
obtaining professional counseling transmitted overtly or covertly. In addition,
some cultural groups may even openly discourage seeing counselors by
stigmatizing or ostracizing individuals who seek counseling services or
disclose mental illness or health problems to others, especially those working
in government agencies (e.g., federal or county social workers or heath or
human service workers). Indeed, over the past few centuries, in American and
European societies, the use of counseling services overall has carried or
conveyed a negative image compelling most individuals to conceal their use of psychiatric
mental health counselors, services, or medications.
The
implications of this negative imagery continues to result in the avoidance of
counseling by many young adults, and even to the confiding in friends and
family, tied to the persistence of the stigmatization of mental illness that has
negatively impacted and inhibited individuals from openly and regularly seeking
counseling treatment to cope with crises and personal problems, in addition to
or instead of prescription anti-depressants or other mental health-related
medications. It is clearly a little easier to conceal the use of medications in
comparison to the more easily identified interval needed to go to a therapist,
where one needs to leave school or work during the daytime. This outlook and
lack of openness to counseling as a treatment option in some cases has led to
tragic results, as we have seen in the Columbine tragedies, and more recently
in Virginia Tech and the Colorado theater massacres (CNN Library, 2014).
In
light of recent events, gender socialization has also been indicated to be
critically important in the cultural transmission process related to individual
help-seeking initiatives. Children from
an early age internalize a large range of messages and information regarding
the ideal behavioral expectations, which differs to varying degrees for males
and females, in relation to the social class and culture, as well as geographic
location in which individuals, families, and communities live, in conjunction
with whether individuals inhabit cities, suburbs, or rural areas. The internalization of information about who
to confide in and for what components of one’s life is infused in a wide range
of interactions with role models and adult figures in childhood, from the home,
public or private educational settings, to other private and public contexts of
interaction. This information ultimately is hypothesized to be incorporated into
the individual’s self-concept and interaction styles in one’s early childhood
and reinforced through interactions and contact with agents of institutions
throughout one’s lifetime (lifecourse research). These interaction patterns and
infused information, both subtle cues and overt instructions inherently impact
and constitute the basis for an individual’s openness to interacting with and confiding
in others, and one can conjecture is involved in introducing notions of trust,
sociability, and other patterns, forms and strategies of interaction. It is
one’s early interactions within one’s community and family, and parental unit
that one internalizes attitudes and approaches to interaction that impact an
individual’s openness and willingness to open up to and engage in intimate
conversations with friends, relatives, peers, colleagues, and other agents of
institutions such as college counselors or other professionals.
It
is also in these contexts that individuals obtain in many cases negative, or
positive, information about the implications of reaching out to others and
counseling as well as other mental health and illness treatments. Male
children, especially in Latino/a, Hispanic cultural contexts (and in lower
class African American and Afro-Caribbean sub-cultural communities), have often
identified being tough and macho as critical to their masculinity, and on the
other hand have seen vulnerability and open communication as feminine, and
often indicating this as a threat to their masculine image and reputation. I
think it is no coincidence that all of the recent tragic circumstances
involving individuals in the use of automatic weapons in mass killing sprees of
other children and adults have involved young adolescent or young adult males (often
but not only of Caucasian ancestry and cultural heritage, for instance, Holmes
(Aurora, Colorado), Klebold and Harris (Columbine High School, Littleton,
Colorado, involved in Neo-Nazi and Gothic sub-cultures and violent video game
use), other White ethnic and other Mediterranean and Afro-Caribbean origin,
such as Lanza (New Town, Connecticut, also diagnosed with Asperger’s condition),
Italian, Aguilar (Columbia Mall, MD., Spanish, Afro-Caribbean origin, who
admired the Columbine assailants immensely and sought to emulate their look and
outlooks/actions), though in April, 2007, at Virginia Tech University the
individual assailant was a highly introverted individual of Korean origin,
whose violence and interest was also to some extent initiated and inspired by
the individuals who committed the Columbine massacre) (CNN, 2007, CNN Library,
2014). One other important thing they
all had in common was a discomfort or inhibition instilled, compelling them to
avoid going to counseling or impeding them from opening up to or reaching out
and confiding intimately in counselors, or other relatives or less close
companions outside (i.e., Harris and Klebold) their inner circle, their
loneliness, homicidal impulses, low self-concept, and other internal pain,
insecurities and victimization (bullying) concerns and interests to avoid pain
inflicted by others.
The
instilling of positive pro-social patterns of self-disclosure and interest in
undergoing counseling is something far less studied, though of interest to the
counseling profession and school counselors, to try to isolate how negative
outlooks become internalized and how to correct or compensate for these
negative outlooks toward initiating counseling, and identifying how those in
institutional settings such as colleges, health care and medical, and hospital
settings, as well as other context can overcome these culturally imbued
negative outlooks and impressions passed down particularly in immigrant
populations recently coming to the US. From regions that associate counseling
with other forms of oppression or invasion of privacy, and who fear the
intrusion of local or federal governmental authorities into one’s individual personal
or family or community affairs, or who are concerned about the spread of
negative information through malicious gossip, and private issues opened up and
revealed through being leaked and made public (to others outside one’s inner
circle of companions).
One
can see that these issues are much less prevalent if not completely absent from
female children and young adults and appear to be only identified as issues or
problems that male children are more likely to be internalize and exhibit. Some
cultural patterns of communication urge male children from a young age to not
communicate their feelings and instead hold feelings inside. Children in these
sub-cultural groups in America are hypothesized to be more likely to
internalize negative, adverse messages and images associated with seeing
counselors and therapists, and identify interactions or conversations with
counselors as undesirable, as are the possible revelations (disclosure) of
others finding out about one’s having a mental problem or illness. Ostensibly,
this fear or concern of exposure could inhibit their reaching out to others,
even anyone, close friends, counselors, or parents, let alone for instance human
service counselors or therapists or other mental health counseling
professionals, much moreso than female children. It is such negative
internalized socio-cultural messages in American cultural and sub-cultural
communities and contexts of all sizes and types that especially impact the
lives of immigrant populations, already experiencing intensified crises and distress
in the process of coming to a new country, adapting to a new way of life and
lifestyle, work situations, and immigration rules, in addition to having to
adapt to a completely new and unfamiliar city, neighborhood, social context,
and geographic environment. These ideas and types of considerations could have played
an important role in inhibiting the use of counseling services even where they
are abundant and available at a low cost.
One
of the objectives of my dissertation interviewing and research project has been
to identify the outlooks and interests and intentions of more ordinary Italian
American and Dominican American young adults in college, in order to look at
others who are not the extreme isolated examples who often become the focus of
public interest after an incident has occurred. There is relatively little
knowledge of how ordinary college students across different racial and ethnic
backgrounds, genders, and high and low class contexts view counseling options obtainable
in the college context or outside. The survey instruments used here (obtained
from Dr. David L. Vogel, Ph.D., at Iowa State University’s Psychology
Department). I hope can help to collect data to add to those collected by other
international investigators to little by little provide a clearer understanding
of how culture, class, and gender interact to influence how those from
different heritage cultural origins view and approach the counseling process,
practice, and community and individual interests of identifying and coping with
mental illness and health concerns, and positively as well as negatively influence institutional, local and national,
international local and regional, and culturally shaped policies, that form the
basis of commonly internalized, contemporary outlooks and practices.
One
other aspect of my dissertation inquiry is that I wanted to be able to collect
data and conduct observations to identify other possible factors that could
influence and impact why people choose to confide in others or not in coping
with their individual crises and trials and tribulations of daily living in
order to obtain insights into the range of issues and concerned of ordinary
individuals, in order to expand our knowledge of the help-seeking phenomena,
focusing initially on the Italian American and Dominican American immigrant
populations, coming to the US at different intervals, one over a hundred years
ago in the mid-1800s, and the other more recent immigrant from the Insular
Caribbean arriving in increasing numbers in the interval after WWII and during
the Civil Rights activities in the 1950s through 1970s period, in a very
different context and historical and legal circumstances facing new immigrant populations coming to North America.
Internalization
of negative images and self-concept are hypothesized to be important, critical
ingredients promoted by various covert and overt consequences of long histories
of institutional racism in North America and other environments where colonialism
instituted racial hierarchies and oppressed, stigmatized, and indentured
populations. This negatively portrayed identities and images is also therefore
hypothesized to directly and indirectly
impact the avoidance of help-seeking and communication practices in crises,
because low self-image I hypothesized to lead to the conception of low
self-worth and having little to offer others, which in turn discourages people
from initiating social contacts and social network formulation and expansion.
It is hypothesized that those with smaller core networks and fewer close
associates who they can confide in, trust, and develop close and intimate
contacts and confidence as core connections are more likely to not turn to
others as often in times of crisis, or limits their perception of confidence in
close supporters being there for them when they choose to reach out or need
help. Likewise, individuals who are more
insular or self-conscious about interactions with others or socially phobic and
therefore more likely to be socially isolated and introverted, (particularly
combined with a shy, quiet nature and lack of an outgoing personality), are
hypothesized to have more limited core networks, and lower perceived support,
as well as less confidence in core supporters offering support in a time of
crisis or challenge. These concerns and
traits are I hypothesize important to identifying the use and effectiveness of
help-seeking and support network mobilization and effectiveness in overcoming
crises and personal difficulties, that could otherwise in extreme cases
escalate into mental illness or psychosis, self-destructive or angry feelings
of aloneness, anomie, suicidal ideation and hopelessness.
Socio-Economic Status/Class and the Operation of Support Networks and Impediments
to Social Support and Help-Seeking
In
this dissertation project, I hypothesize, and have come to interpret from this
research project’s outcomes and years of observation in low income communities,
that living in lower class communities and neighborhoods can have the same
impact as introversion. That is, living in low income neighborhoods could, I
hypothesize, create a feeling of social isolation, and impose immense challenges
in forming, building, and expanding as well as implementing or mobilizing help
networks, especially ties made with (socio-economically) similar others inside
these communities. Individuals with a lower income, I posit, are more likely to
form ties with those like themselves with limited income and interpersonal
resources given their limited circles of interaction, compared to individuals
living in upper income communities that are likely to be more diverse
(income-wise) and where individuals themselves have more physical mobility to
interact with more diverse individuals and groups from more diverse income
categories and those with more broad and less limited circles of friends and
with larger and more varied networks in larger and more dense and enriched
communities with less limited circles of interaction.
In
my study I will examine the issue of class more closely and look at more subtle
as well as overt, self-reported patterns of interaction and communication in
conjunction, and intersecting or intertwined, with the components involving
cultural identity and more culturally-based aspects of how local communities
arise and operate in a modern city environment in New England, where cultural
groups are often clustered in neighborhoods, less concentrated than in the
countries of origin and more geographically diverse, but none-the-less still
remaining closely knit.
I have tried to include a diverse range of interviewees from varied socio-economic
or class backgrounds. However, by virtue of where I recruited most of the
people interviewed in the public university contexts, or lower class (student)
community fast food or local eateries, as well as at cultural events bringing
in students from around the country, the majority of the interviewees came from
low income families and community contexts. I posit, based on other research,
that in low income communities and neighborhoods individual and family
resources can be very limited and this could impact the ability of individuals
to build support networks, pro-social and network building skills, confiding in
others, in combination with other culturally-infused inhibitions. Therefore, I
can conjecture that individuals from low income communities could be
hypothesized to at least occasionally avoid confiding in others or reaching out
to others to not over-burden or for fear of losing other close companions and
allies with limited resources or occupied with their own manifold challenges,
problems, and stressors. Lower income individuals could be perceived as being
less capable of offering certain types of tangible or even emotional support
without depriving their own families or themselves. The individuals from lower
income contexts could thus be more reluctant to mobilize their low
income connections to provide certain forms of tangible or emotional help or
support, insofar as they (low income companions) are perceived to be likely
(like themselves) to be struggling to cope with their own immense myriad problems
or personal challenges and obstacles. Individuals may not want to add more to
their friend’s or family’s burdens by imposing their own stress on close or
significant others, and so on.
Emotional
support could be less limited in low income communities, but could still be
limited given the large number of individuals in their core circles of
companions and ties likely to be facing similar stressors and crises at any
given moment in time. The natural
constraints to seeking help or disclosing one’s problems to others with similar
circumstances and limited means and resources could potentially (in extreme
cases) lead to an individual withdrawing inside their own little world, and avoiding
interaction and coping altogether, instead immersing themselves in their own
little world, focusing instead on independence and self-reliance, in order to avoid
overtaxing others and jeopardizing important relationships. Like those who are naturally introverted, it
is posited that individuals in low income communities might be more likely to keep
problems to themselves. Individuals could also avoid exposing one’s own
individual limitations or constraints, thus auspiciously preventing inflicting shame
or embarrassment on themselves. It is
perceived to be inherently risky to expose one’s own vulnerability or needs in
low income communities. It is also a way
to avoid losing or driving away others who one cares about and does not want to
take even a little chance of losing due to loss of face or overly demanding
personal crises or overload.
I
am interested in investigating the manner in which social class and cultural
dispositions are intertwined in impacting how people build their support
systems and interpersonal communities enabling them to overcome personal crises,
or not, and providing or not providing a social safety net, overall. There has been considerable indirectly
related research on the importance of shame, stigma, and the emotional
“injuries” of growing up and living in lower class communities and being
identified as of lower class origins and living contexts (Sennett and Cobb,
1972).
Cultural Impediments to Social
Support and Help-Seeking Initiatives
The
research most closely allied to the objectives and topic of this current dissertation
project have focused on the salience of culture in identifying impediments to
help-seeking and confiding in others. Researchers have used several methodologies
in order to garner support for the notion of and to accurately identify cultural
impediments and differences in support seeking attitudes, approaches, and
behaviors and how these influence or shape the provisioning of help and support
of various types, in relation to options for coping, emotional, tangible, and
belonging support. Indeed, their research has clearly indicated and revealed
that distinct types of support and styles of support seeking impact the way
people from distinct cultures attempt to initiate contacts and mobilize
supporters, as well as cope with all types of minor and intense stressors and
crises in their lives (Taylor, Sherman, and Kim, 2008, Taylor, et. al,
2004).
How is Culture Defined or How are
Cultural Components of Communities Observed and Identified?
Culture
has been defined as the “mental programs,” collective traditions, patterns of
interaction, and ways of life that are collectively learned through being part
of a social group (Hofstede, 1984: 13-14). Culture also consists of the shared
dispositions, rules and ways of living, as well as meaning and value systems of
a specific, and in some sense bounded, geographically, socially, or otherwise
loosely identified as a community, collectivity or population with linguistic
or other common denominators (such as Latino/a or Hispanic) (Vondras, et. al,
2008: 64-5). These elements therefore have often become a “history of learned
values,” symbols, beliefs, and communication systems that form the basis for a
range or assemblage of traditions that shape the course and manifestation of
human behaviors (Vondras, et. al., 2008: 65). It stands to reason that social support, being
one aspect of social relationships, would also be strongly shaped and molded by
cultural forces operating in distinct, designated societies or
communities.
Till
recently, most studies have been focused on specific ethnic groups, and lacked
a comparative focus, such as on Latinos, (Stanton-Salazar and Spina, 2000;
Stanton-Salazar, 2001; Brewster and Bowen, 2004; Taylor, Seaton, Jacobson,
Rodriguez, and Dominguez, 2003) or African-Americans, (Stack, 1974, Dance,
2002; Lincoln, Chatters, and Taylor, 2005), White ethnic populations (Italians
in Italy: Zani, et al., 2001; and, Norwegians in Norway, Oppedal, Brit and
Espen Roysamb, 2004), or non-ethnic, White adolescents (Colarossi and Eccles,
2000; Colarossi, 2000). Only a few studies have compared two or more ethnic
groups as described above (in the Comparative Studies Section, pp. 17- 20,
above), though controlling for socio-economic status. That is they only
selected respondents who were from families below the poverty level, Black and
White Appalachian adolescents (Markstrom, Marshall, and Tryon, 2000) and Black,
Latino, and Asian adolescents from low income families (Way and Robinson, 2003:
324-46).
Yet,
these recent studies of comparative cross-cultural distinctions in social
support and support seeking behavior has also acknowledged the relative dearth
of studies on this topic. For instance, Vondras, Pouliot, Malcore, and Iwahashi
state in a recent article on this topic: “…there has been little cross-cultural
investigation of perceived support involving young, midlife, and older adults…”
(2008: 64). The Voudras, et.al. research referred to here examined the impacts
of Japanese and American “cultural orientations” on social support and in turn
on the perceived success in attaining important life goals of young, mid-life,
and older adults (2008: 63- 65). The key distinction found was that Japanese
subjects identified collective goals as primary, which stronglys contrast with
Western social norms and values. The individual goals being secondary (Vondras,
et.al., 2008: 67-70, 77-91). In addition, in Japanese cultures, the emphasis on
interdependence, filial piety, and group cohesion, where young adults receive
greater support from older adults, parents, etc. is distinctly different from
the U.S. cultural emphasis on independence and self-sufficiency (Vondras,
et.a;, 2008: 90).
Similar
to the latter study, in the area of support seeking behavior, cross-cultural
support studies have been predominantly focused on the contrasts and
distinctions between different cultural groups. The distinctions have been
identified as arising in part because of the contrasting collectivist
orientations in some non-Western cultures, versus the more individualist
tendencies and orientations of Western and American or more specifically
“European-American” culture (Taylor, et. al, 2004). To date, there is still little clear or specific
information and data as to how those from other diverse cultural backgrounds
vary in terms of social support practices, or in terms of the effectiveness of
perceived or received support in mitigating the negative effects of stress and
mental health problems such as depression.
Scholars
such as Geert Hofstede synthesized characteristics of “national cultures”
similar to the “collectivist/individualist” dichotomy used in recent studies of
perceived support and support seeking behaviors. His schemata were used to
provide common scales as well as a means to analyze and compare specific
characteristics such as individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity,
and power distance using a continuum to identify traits of over 39 countries
(Hofstede, 1984). Hofstede’s categories suggest that the cultural traits and
tendencies can be useful in cross-cultural analyses and comparative studies. For
instance, in his measures of individualism, the US is shown to be the highest
(91) in this trait, while Spain is given a score of 51, and other South and
Latin American countries are rated below this at between 46 (Argentina), 38
(Brazil) to 12 (Venezuela) (Hofstede, 1984: 158). These scores can be compared to Japan at 46, Hong
Kong 25, Thailand 20, and Taiwan at 17, and show significant variation,
according to his criteria, of these distinct Asian countries (Hofstede, 1984:
158). [2] These
scores, if used as indicators of collectivist orientations, suggest that Latin
American countries are comparable to the Asian cultural counterparts, and
suggest that one might anticipate similarities in the support seeking
processes, even though actual individual cultural practices may vary and derive
from unique and quite distinctive traditions. The usefulness of these schemes
and criteria tested, analyzed, and applied by many scholars over the past few
decades, suggests that these measures may be effectively used to broaden and
refine the theories and knowledge of social support seeking behavior and
systems, and extend comparisons beyond the U.S./Asian models.
Prior Studies of Social Support
Seeking Behaviors Undertaken and Their Outcomes:
The
studies of social support seeking behaviors undertaken by Shelley E. Taylor,
David K. Sherman, and Heejung S. Kim and associates first published in 2004
used the theories and contrasting cultural orientations of “collectivists” and
“individualists” to identify and postulate corresponding expected distinctions
in social support behaviors, drawing from the traits revealed in other cross-cultural
analyses (2004: 354). For instance, they contrast the voluntary and often
temporary or short-term nature of relationships in western societies, with the
sense of more permanent, stable social ties and obligations characterizing
relationships in Eastern cultural groups. They also identified the emphasis on
harmony and interdependence in the Eastern cultures, with the emphasis on
freedom and independence, as well as self-sufficiency and self-reliance in the
Western cultural mind set. They theorize that these significant differences in
norms governing relationships, social networks, and societal expectations are
likely to impact “how and whether individuals seek and use social support…”
(2004: 354). Their focus was exclusively on the distinctions between “European-Americans”
and “Asians” as well as “Asian-Americans,” though they did include some
Hispanic individuals in their research sample. The used experiments, surveys,
and tests revealing the above insights and were used to generate some “grounded
theories” on the Eastern versus Western approaches to social support, used to
develop their culturally grounded theoretical outlooks on the differing Eastern
and Western cultural dispositions toward support seeking.
The
major results of Taylor and colleagues and findings will be summarized very
briefly here below. The research
conducted included different methods and approaches, both questionnaires,
experiments, and daily and weekly journals of support seeking activities. For
instance, in one of the earlier studies, the participants took a math test and
performed an activity beforehand, either writing a letter to a family member
seeking help with the task, writing about others in general with close
relationships, or the control group writing about a landmark on their college
campus.
Across
several studies, Taylor, Sherman, Kim, and colleagues found that Asians as well
as Asian-Americans, as well as the small sample of Latinos surveyed, were more
likely to avoid seeking support and disclosing their personal needs. The
most salient and statistically significant results were identified in these
studies to have been tied to the desire to not overburden significant
relationships. Instead, they sought to preserve their ties to significant
others (Kim, et al., 2006: 1603-1604).
Contrary
to all of the other studies on social support, Taylor and her colleagues found
that the most recent immigrants or native Asian respondents expressed negative
emotions and trepidation in relation to the possibility of disclosing their
problems or troubles to actively seek support. Though some gender differences
were identified, and apparently confirmed the other scholar’s findings that
females overall sought support more often than males, they too were interpreted
by Taylor and colleagues to largely “avoid” openly asking for support by
comparison to other European-American females.
Talking as a form of support seeking and emotional support seemed to be
less beneficial and less often used by Asians than more instrumental and
general forms of belonging support that they obtained from their significant
others (Son, Lin, And George, 2008; Taylor, et al., 2004; Kim, et al., 2006;
Kim, et al., 2008).
These
studies did produce some very interesting results, which seemed to closely mirror
some of their initial theorized expectations. Indeed, in several different
phases of data collection, the Asians and Asian-Americans did appear to
demonstrate clear differences from the so-called Euro-Americans in the types of
support they sought or avoided seeking, and in terms of what constituted
effective forms of support, as well as how it impacted the stress experienced
(Taylor, et.al, 2004: Kim, Sherman, and Taylor, 2008; Kim, Sherman, Ko, &
Taylor, 2006). Through focus groups and the analysis of preliminary data, some
significant findings were used to help explain the meaning of these results in
terms of identifying what they term “explicit” and “implicit” forms of social
support. One of the key outcomes of their research was that they interpreted
and claimed that Asians/Asian-Americans, and Latinos sought to maintain group
harmony and thus avoid over-taxing or jeopardizing relationships. These
cultural groups, they interpreted, tended to less often explicitly seek social support,
and avoided disclosing their needs and personal strife to significant others.
Using
regression statistics, the concern for relationships appeared to have been the
single strongest factor shaping these behaviors. The implications of the
results, according to these researchers, was that Asian and Asian-American
populations and communities appeared to gain a greater sense of support through
the sense of belonging to their collectives and families, rather than overtly
asking for help or support. The mere presence of individuals in their lives and
(potential
but untapped) support systems seemed to be the strongest source of support,
more
so than the actual disclosure of needs and mobilizing of ties to obtain
instrumental, emotional, belonging, and other types of support.
The
limitations of these studies are tied to the fact that the above-discussed
research was confined to mostly numerical responses to brief survey instrument
questions, and lacked any corresponding indepth qualitative observations or
interview data about the subtler nuances of how relationships were established
and maintained, and support transactions managed. Though they did use to a limited extent a few
other experimental methods, including self-reported behavioral diaries and
focus group discussions, more indepth, qualitative data was largely lacking and
missing. Taylor’s team did not undertake as of yet in-depth interviews or comprehensive
observations of the individuals who took part in their study, nor did their research
include any other detailed documentation of actual support transactions in
nearby communities or neighborhoods or households.
In the U.S., by contrast, Taylor’s
results indicated that ties and support provision for Euro- Americans tended to
be openly pursued, voluntary and where one’s social ties tended to be actively
mobilized to aid in seeking personal goals, mitigate stress and solve a myriad
of personal problems. These distinctions could not be fully validated since
unresolved questions remained as to whether Asians appeared to really “not”
seek support because more “unsolicited” support was generally already available
to them (without specifically asking or revealing specific needs). This subtle
distinction between hinting versus explicitly revealing needs could represent
culturally distinct ways to communicate needs for support, rather than a more
dramatic distinction between the interest in mobilizing or NOR mobilizing
supporters. These tendencies could reveal something deep seated about the more
collectivistic, interdependent cultural orientations in Eastern societies and
cultures, versus the distinct communications styles stressing self-reliance and
independence. Though Asians did state they received more unsolicited support,
this alone, Taylor claimed, did not appear to explain the distinctions between
Asian and Euro-American behavioral tendencies reported. Indeed, their studies
seemed to show that European-Americans benefited more from “explicit” social
support seeking behaviors, and did not experience the same concern over loss of
face or other stigmas or in general negative emotional consequences of “active
disclosure,” or overtly and explicitly seeking support, as apparently Asians
and Asian-Americans did (Kim, Sherman, and Taylor, 2008: 4-6).
Other
data not collected and questions Taylor and her colleagues did NOT address were
whether these distinctions applied to all socio-economic strata within given
cultural groups. These researchers obtained their sample from students in
psychology courses at UCLA and UCSB, and did not distinguish or collect
information about possible internal differences among European-Americans or
Asians/Asian-Americans or Latinos, besides gender and the generation American.
For instance, they did not collect data or measure differences in support seeking
or avoidance from different socio-economic status groups or social classes. As
a result, they did not specifically look for possible socio-economic status or
class differences in support practices, inclinations, or attitudes. While, they
did examine the variable of gender, and mainly found that women in both
cultural groups sought more support than men, both men and women still
otherwise conformed overall to the original cultural expectations and
predictions. A limitation or shortcoming of these studies is that they did not
look for other possible sources of variation and difference within the U.S. or
Asian groups, such as the intersection of culture or sub-cultural and
socio-economic status. They also lumped all so-called “Euro-Americans” together
and did not attempt to separate out those of distinct regional or other
sub-cultural origins from different countries or sub-cultural populations. Nor
did they attempt to compare the Euro- Americans with other minority groups in
the U.S. such as Blacks, African-Americans, or other minority groups, apart
from including a very small number of so-called Hispanic participants, with no
specific information on their origin or length of time spent in the US. No doubt significant differences could be
found and productively examined more closely in relation to the support-seeking
styles and strategies of so many other sub-cultural populations such as
religiously-observant Jewish Americans and Caribbean West Indians or others, as
shown in the pilot research I conducted with African- American and
Afro-Caribbean, Dominican- American, Italian- American, and others of Hispanic
origin in Central and South America.
The
role of socio-economic status could ostensibly be very significant to the
mobilization of support. For instance, those from lower socio-economic statuses
(unlike the middle class) in the U.S. may have smaller support systems of
individuals largely like themselves, whose ties are harder to replace. If those
from lower socio-economic statuses have others in their social network largely
like themselves, they may be more reluctant to share problems or ask for
support or help knowing that their ties are already over-burdened or as
stressed as they are, and could be unable to offer much help. Therefore
individuals from lower socio-economic status groups might in fact be more
reluctant to mobilize supporters, similar to the Asians students in Taylor’s
study. With likely smaller support systems of similar others, those from lower
socio-economic status groups are likely to be more socially and economically
vulnerable and concerned about the possible loss of ties, and would be more likely
to not wish to over-tax close relatives or friends faced with similar
tribulations or stressors.
With
reference to the results from the pilot study undertaken by the present
researcher, those from lower socio-economic status groups tended to encounter
more stress and distress overall from violence, crime, and other toxic elements
in their environments, compared to the more affluent and stable middle class
social and neighborhood environments. The support avoidance practices had been
theorized to differ from the more pro-social, middle class families who
possessed more stable sources of income, living in safer suburban environments.
In my pilot thesis study, those from lower socio-economic residential
environments tended to be exposed to more turmoil and toxic inner city or rural
environments, experienced negative outcomes of self-disclosure and
help-seeking. These could be sources of stigma, e.g., resulting from disclosing
information about traumatic events such as victimization, rape, spousal abuse,
etc. (Aneshensel and Sucoff, 1996).
The
questions Taylor and colleagues asked about the types of stressors that college
students faced, for instance, in balancing academic and other daily living
demands, could not solicit information about some of the more serious life and
death concerns faced by most lower socio-economic status groups. Their study
did not ask questions about the more severe types of acute and chronic
stressors and the more extreme forms of stress and crisis situations typically
faced by less privileged individuals of these or any other cultural groups. Thus,
the distinctions Taylor’s research has identified may or may not have any real
validity, or be artificially exaggerated, given the limited number of variables
examined.
An
alternative interpretation of the findings of Dr. Taylor and her colleagues is
that there may indeed be distinct cultural orientations and attitudes toward
the disclosure of support-seeking behavior, mediated by a myriad of other
social environmental factors, including class, residential environment,
personal circumstances, etc.. Another
factor is the testing environment. Asians may divulge less information and may be
more reluctant to disclose their actual behavioral acts even in the context of filling
out the survey instrument. These internalized behavioral impediments may have
impacted the study data as well. On the other hand, it may require more
extensive observational studies to examine the subtler nuances and close-range
observations of interpersonal interactions, communication patterns, and support
transactions in Asian, Asian-American and other cultural and socio-economic
communities to discover the complex truths behind these social support
behaviors.
Still,
given the limitations of their studies, lingering questions remain in terms of
the possible unexamined role of socio-economic status or other important
intervening variables that may provide a more complete and better picture and
account for the trends and variations observed in their data, or those of
similar studies. I would like to investigate
the role of socio-economic status and other complex factors in support
transactions, relationships, and help-seeking and avoidance between two sub-cultural
groups in the U.S.: Southern Italian- Americans and Dominican Americans using a
more indepth, mixes method, intensive and extensive modes of study,
observation, and interviewing and data collection. The approach taken by the
present researcher attempts to bring in a distinctive, original approach, combining
some tested and tried and true survey instruments with new lines of questions
designed to collect data on diverse aspects and dimensions of socio-economic
status, while taking into account the potentially complex intersections of
culture and class or socio-economic status, as well as immigration histories,
experiences and social and geographic locations, particularly with reference to
the formation of racial hierarchies shaping the integration and assimilation of
these two specific populations into US society.
Pilot Thesis Project Outcomes/ Theories
of Stigma and Societal Transformation
In
addition, I am seeking to use more indepth survey instruments to elucidate the
issues of trust and the ability to confide in others, experiences of stigma,
and preferences or proclivities in support-seeking and avoidance in my studies.
My
goal is to extend or build on these previous studies while developing and using
more extensive modes of examining support and more indepth methods to solicit
information about the use of support, behavior patterns, and concrete support
transactions. I have collected extensive information on the types and characteristics
of support systems, including both quantitative and qualitative data to examine
and compare coping strategies and perceived support from respondents with at
least one parent or grandparent who is of Dominican or Italian origin. My
respondents were selected between the ages of 18 and 38, in relation to socio-economic,
racial, ethnic, and social criteria.
I
have sought to collect some richly textured, and extensive data on social
network structural measures such as the size, composition, and the dispersal or
geographic proximity or concentration of ties, and the classification and
documentation of actual support transactions. Furthermore, I have sought to
investigate the combined and interacting roles of these cultural as well as
structural variables in shaping the formation and use of use of social support
networks. This may reveal more about the mobilization or avoidance of support systems
and the diverse realities and subtler aspects of support seeking behaviors and
exchange transactions manifested in studies of different cultural groups.
The
reasons for researching this topic were to revise and redesign extant the
theoretical approaches, devise predictive as well as grounded theories, and
enrich the study of the phenomena of support-seeking and the obstacles and
stigmas that may impede the formation and use of social ties and connections. I have also strived to address immediate,
real world problems regarding young adults and teens in crisis and distress,
who may either have lacked support or avoided seeking support. These issues
have become even more salient in the wake of recent tragic outcomes of violent
episodes plaguing both suburban and urban contexts in the United States and
some other countries, in which adolescents and young adults, who may lack effective
coping strategies, support systems, outlets or resources, may have resorted to
self-destructive acts and often harmed others.
In
this dissertation study, the factors that may stimulate as well as discourage
the mobilization or use of social support networks will be examined. I will try
to examine and investigate the potential barriers teens and young adults may
face when reaching out to other ties for support. Also critical is to better examine the support
strategies and mechanisms most suitable, appropriate, and sensitive to distinct
cultural groups as one means to devise better resources to enhance the means
available to cope with and overcome these crises.
One of the other facets of support transactions and mobilization of
supporters that I would like to further examine in my study, rarely studied by
other researchers, was inspired by the results from the pilot research project
I undertook prior to the dissertation project that I will summarize in chapter
3. Based on the outcomes of the pilot project, initially undertaken for the
Master of Arts thesis, completed in 2011, I discovered that everyday actions
such as help-seeking and disclosing personal problems to others may trigger
negative self-evaluations that may result from the help seeker’s perception of
being stigmatized (or losing face). Erving Goffman defined stigma as: “a
physical, characterological, or social attribute that is deeply discrediting…”
and socially recognized as negatively valued (Goffman, 1963). Stigmatizing
traits may be either visible or invisible, and the experiences of stigma may be
intensified by the spread of negative information, intentionally or
unintentionally, and the labeling process, impacting one’s personal reputation,
self-concept, and identity.
Most of the recent research on stigma in sociological studies has focused
on the public perception of the mentally ill, most notably the work of Dr.
Bernice Pescosolido and colleagues (Pescosolido, et. al 2007; Martin, et. al,
2007; Pescosolido, et. al, 2008). Dr.
Pescosolido’s U.S.-based National Stigma Study, and following this the most
recent International Stigma Studies undertaken in 15 countries, used survey
instruments to assess the public views and attitudes toward those with some
type of mental health challenge, as assessed by their responses to hypothetical
scenarios of individuals described in short vignettes. This technique was also
used in the 2002 General Social Survey instrument segment on child stigma.
My research has pursued a different and more direct approach to assess the
impact of stigma on everyday social interactions, to examine the evidence for
stigma experiences impacting everyday processes of help-seeking interactions
and routine communications with a myriad of social ties and significant others.
I have assembled as well as adapted/created survey instruments from other
prominent social psychologists and sociologists, using Irving Goffman’s
definition and discourse on stigma as the basis for one of these instruments.
Goffman stated or implied that stigmatizing traits or conditions were
defined as discrediting in relation to the specific social contexts, systems of
meaning and prevailing cultural norms in a particular social setting. The
related question I have asked in this study is to what extent the fears of
stigmatization and mistreatment are equally powerful in shaping emotions and
behavior, and rooted in distinct cultural dispositions, traditions and beliefs or
other systems of meaning, such as class, socio-economic status, legal status,
etc..
Thus, distinct from the orientations and approaches of
the studies of leading researchers such as Dr. Pescosolido, I have sought to
look at the personal impacts and experiences of stigma that may impact our
society and general social interactions, (rather than public perceptions in
relation to those with mental illness only). I have sought to examine the role
of stigma in relation to its impact on more routine social interactions such as
in the disclosure of personal social, economic, legal as well as academic or
other related problems or challenges.
It is theorized that these routine acts of help-seeking could be thwarted
or disrupted by social, emotional, and cultural barriers, among others (e.g.,
socio-economic in nature), that may inhibit people from reaching out to
potential support-givers in times of trouble or difficulty.
To review, my study has been focused on how support systems and
help-seeking dispositions can differ across distinct ethnic and racial groups,
and transform over time and across generations. Even the ability to sense
impending stigmatization may influence or disrupt everyday help-seeking processes
and supporter mobilization actions pursued by teens and young adults.
In
order to address these topics of research in a more indepth manner, I have
sought to further investigate why specific groups, in this case Italian-
Americans and Dominican- Americans, may use, activate or not use or seek to
access specific types of (possibly culturally inappropriate) informal or formal
support or counseling services. The above-discussed literature and research findings
highlight the strategic concerns, issues and controversies surrounding this
topic. In this research project I have strived to better understand the ways
that cultural and structural factors intersect and shape the processes of
seeking informal and formal support and other help seeking strategies in times
of personal trouble and crisis or special need.
My
hypotheses to be tested in this study are:
1.
Immigrant youth
and young adults may generate a negative self-image or internalize negative
images from the dominant culture and wider social context that in turn are
predicted to inhibit the formation of effective support networks, and
negatively impact or discourage help-seeking and self-disclosure.
2.
Those from
distinct socio-economic status groups will exhibit different support-seeking
behaviors. For instance, those who live in low SES neighborhoods with increased
violence and displacement due to low rates of employment, (i.e., in marginalized
communities) and social mobility are hypothesized to face greater challenges
initiating, forming, and mobilizing effective and larger support systems.
3.
The
neighborhood and family contexts and circumstances of low SES individuals are
predicted to increase vulnerability to negative interpersonal social
interaction and relationship formation (so-called negative support) experiences
that can discourage help-seeking and reaching out to others in times of need
and difficulty.
4.
Male
teenagers or young adults of color who are darker complexioned individuals may self-identify
or be identified by others as black or grouped with other stigmatized minority
populations, and are thus hypothesized to be more likely to adopt and internalize
negative self-images and stereotypes generated and imposed by the dominant
American cultural value system. These individuals are more likely thus to
identify with and congregate among, and be associated with other criminalized
and marginalized (minority) groups in the U.S. They are thus believed to be less
likely to develop healthy, positive interpersonal interactions with other
individuals from other immigrant cultural groups and individual from other
neighborhoods in lower to upper class longterm American communities.
5.
This lack of
trust, comfort, and imposed isolation impeding regular communication and
interaction of both male and female immigrant youth of color is hypothecized to
act as an impediment inhibiting the formation of healthy connections with other
individuals outside their particular immediate family or neighborhood immigrant
communities. The internalization of negative stereotypes and criminalization is
hypothesized to partially account for inhibitions or impediments in connecting
with others, and purported lack of openness and comfort in using instrumental
and social coping mechanisms in order to deal with and overcome personal
crises, troubles and challenges. They are thus hypothesized to be less likely
to confide in others at all and less likely use instrumental or social coping
mechanisms during personal conflicts or crises or other instances of distress.
6.
Young female
and male adults of color AND low socio-economic class or status are also
hypothesized to be less likely to form large and diverse, racially, ethnically,
and class-based supportive interaction networks that are also cross-culturally
integrated and dense networks.
7.
The children
who are generation 1.5 or children of 1st and second generation immigrants that
are of Afro-Caribbean origin and by implication appearance (phenotype) are
hypothesized to be more likely to experience negative, criminalized self-images
and internalize negative messages inside and outside their own neighborhoods
and communities, by comparison to those from Mediterranean or other European
origin populations due to longterm patterns of interaction in America and
institutional discrimination as well as deeply rooted racist historical
legacies, racial hierarchies, and only longterm validity of Jim Crow laws, in
some communities only recently rescinded or outlawed in the past couple of
decades. As a result of these historically rooted, contemporary problems and longterm
maltreatment, overt or covert, I hypothesize that female and male young adults
of African or Afro-Caribbean origin, especially in lower class communities, can
still obtain negative self-images and internalized negative information. One
consequence of these negative internalized images and stereotypes is
hypothesized to inhibit their capacity to form close-knit friendships, confide
in intimate interpersonal connections, and integrate into larger more diverse
communities, that could enable them to create diverse and large support
networks. Their ability to obtain both positive and negative interactions and
support it is hypothesized could have been negatively impacted by these
longterm, persisting negative stereotypes and the institutionalized patterns of
oppression and interaction that are the ongoing and resurfacing consequences of
maltreatment even in our contemporary communities, where such practices are
openly outlawed.
8.
I hypothesize
due to their strong resemblance to other stigmatized, lower status and lower
socio-economic status groups, as well as other historically stigmatized
populations in North America, that male and female teens and young adults of
1st and 2nd generation immigrant adults of color are more likely to face
challenges interacting with and confiding in others with different origins,
immigration histories, socio-economic backgrounds, linguistic origins, etc.,
inhibiting their ability to connect with and confide in individuals who are
different, non-similar others. in light of their experiences of disrespect,
mistrust, and targeted for discrimination or maltreatment) due to their racial
appearance, dress (urban or ethnic clothes), language (Spanish or Italian
accent or difficulty with the English language), that distinguish them from
other immigrant and contemporary American young adults.
9.
The issue of
socio-economic status is hypothesized to continue to be a critical factor
shaping life chances and access to personal resources across cultures particularly
in modern cities and urban cultural contexts. I also therefore hypothesize that
one’s “class” or socio-economic status (SES) is predicted to be more important
than their cultural or linguistic origins in impacting the size and stability
of support networks, and or that influence other characteristics such as the
variety and diversity of cultural, gender (composition), ethnic, racial, and
other features of individual personal communities or networks. SES is also
predicted to be more important than cultural and linguistic origin in impact
the use of coping and communication strategies and behaviors implemented/used.
SES or class context and communities are thus hypothesized to be more important
and override the important of cultural and linguistic origin in influencing
individual aptitude or willingness to initiate and mobilize social connections
and contacts in order to cope with and improve outcomes of personal crises,
troubles, and distress.
10. I hypothesize that the size, density, openness, and activeness as
well as the helpfulness and effectiveness of one’s individual personal
communities or networks can in turn impact an individual’s attitude toward
help-seeking, and the level of trust and confidence invested in and imputed to
interpersonal ties, which also impact an individual’s resilience in overcoming
crises, for instance, boosting their confidence that interpersonal connections will
offer support, friendship, and companionship, and other positive support when
needed.
11. An individual’s positive or negative experiences with
interpersonal relationships, support networks and help-seeking in the past are
hypothesized to significantly impact the individual’s capacity to form, sustain
and mobilize supporters, and achieve positive, optimal outcomes for a given
instance of help-seeking or crisis intervention addressed. (For instance, these
factors can impact the confidence individuals placed on sources of support, in
terms of the likelihood these links and connections can be mobilized in a particular
time of need, and in general can be counted on to be there and remain reliable when
crises arise to help individuals cope with and resolve urgent crises and cope
with other personal challenges or actual problems.)
12. Those who are more recent immigrants from traditional cultural
environments can be hypothesized to have more collectivistic orientations and
therefore create less diverse, and therefore more homogeneous, networks
composed of individuals likely to be very similar to themselves, by comparison
to those from the 2nd or 3rd generations who may not fluently
speak their country of origin’s or parent’s native language and who may identify
less closely with their own cultural heritage or home countries’ culture.
13. 1st or 2nd or more generation youth who have
experienced intensive periods of socialization, for instance as a result of attending
U.S. K-12 schools, are hypothesized to be less likely to identify with the
heritage culture and therefore less likely to retain collectivist orientations,
and may place less value on having inter-personal connections that are
homogeneous, consistent with their individual cultural “comfort zones.” Personal communities and connections of these
individuals are hypothesized to contain more cross-cultural and class diversity,
than those of 1st or 2nd generation individual immigrant
young adults who did not attend K-12 schools or college.
14. Support avoidance is hypothesized to be likely to be shaped by a
complex range of factors, and ultimately impacted by the intersection of many complex
factors including socio-economic status, culture and other characteristics such
as immigration status or the location and class neighborhoods where immigrants
settled in America, ongoing return visits, identify formation processes, and
exposure to the native language in the heritage origin cultural groups and
communities, etc. and other factors NOT considered by Taylor and colleagues in
her initial studies.
15. One important facet of support avoidance is hypothesized to be
connected in some part to negative self-image, allied to an individual’s loss
of face, internalized shame, family abuse cycles, black sheep status in a
community, neighborhood, or family, the type of family structure and content, in
addition to other possible sources of negative self-image, that result in the
self-identification or perception of being stigmatized or marginalized in a
given cultural and social context (community, family or society, etc.).
In
sum, I am interested in how the insights about social support seeking behaviors
or avoidance can help better understand and improve our understanding of how
different populations in the US and overseas use or do not use distinct types
of informal and formal sources of support, and how this may impact how young
adults cope with various types of distress, and influence whether youth do or
so not reach out to others for help and emotional and tangible support. I hope
to introduce my own contributions and add to existing innovative approaches to
the study of these issues, through attempting to modestly extend and expand on the
existing body of research on this topic. I especially hope to further examine
how cultural identities influence these support seeking processes, and
ultimately impact the mental and physical health of young adults who may be
recent immigrants or those in successive generations who may live in the inner
city, suburbs, rural areas and other social environments in the US.
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[1] These large-scale, longitudinal studies that have been conducted in several phases, such as the “The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health” conducted or sponsored by the University of North Carolina Population Center, (publications using this data include: Cornwell, 2003; Crosnoe and Elder, 2003; Crosnoe, 2001, 2004, 2006; Crosnoe, Cavanagh, and Elder, 2003; Crosnoe, Johnson, and Elder, 2004; Ueno, 2004), collected in three waves between 1994-1996 and 2001-2002 (see the web site: http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). Wave four has been proposed to be undertaken in 2007-2008 (Kathleen Mullin Harris, Add Health descriptive document, 2005).
[2] Geert Hofstese developed a survey instrument which he used to solicit responses from 66 countries between 1967- 1973. He collected responses from over 117,000 questionnaires from 66 countries. The survey instrument was translated into 20 languages, and capture responses to questions designed to solicit information about specific cultural values and attitudes of the respondents. The countries were later narrowed to 40 due to the nature of the data retrieved (as described by Hofstede, 1984, 2001).