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Book Review: Mothers At Work: Who Opts Out?, Aliya Hamid Rao Jan 2019

Book Review: Mothers At Work: Who Opts Out?, Aliya Hamid Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Why do mothers in elite professions opt out? This question has been important both sociologically as well as in the mainstream media.


Parenting And Inequality In Insecure Times. A Comment To The Symposium, Aliya Hamid Rao Dec 2018

Parenting And Inequality In Insecure Times. A Comment To The Symposium, Aliya Hamid Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This comment highlights how high income inequality and economic uncertainty produce new dimensions to intensive parenting amongst the middle-class. Parenting practices encourage children’sdevelopment of behaviors and values which are coveted in élite professions. Amongst the advantaged,these parenting practices encourage neo-traditional family structures as a means of coping with economic uncertainty.


Lack Of Dream-Capital Among Korean Youths: Rationally Chosen Or Culturally Forbidden?, Seokho Kim, Hongjung Kim, Sangkyu Lee, Eunji Kim, Ohjae Gowen Jan 2018

Lack Of Dream-Capital Among Korean Youths: Rationally Chosen Or Culturally Forbidden?, Seokho Kim, Hongjung Kim, Sangkyu Lee, Eunji Kim, Ohjae Gowen

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper attempts to provide empirical evidence in understanding the ways that contemporary youth pursue their dreams in Korea. This paper examines the rational aspect of "dreaming" or "non-dreaming" by employing two concepts: dream-capital and penetration. In this paper, dream-capital is conceptualized as a seed that facilitates the accumulation of other capitals. It is the total capacity to dream and is composed of four dimensions: imagination, hope, optimism and resilience. Penetration is defined as the "cognitive judgment about the (un)realizability of dream." It refers to the discrepancy that exists between judgment about the capacity, condition and qualification required to fulfill …


Stand By Your Man: Wives' Emotion Work During Men's Unemployment, Aliya Hamid Rao Jun 2017

Stand By Your Man: Wives' Emotion Work During Men's Unemployment, Aliya Hamid Rao

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Recent research on unemployment has not sufficiently acknowledged how unemployment reverberates within families, particularly emotionally. This article uses data from more than 50 in‐depth interviews to illuminate the emotional demands that men's unemployment makes beyond the unemployed individual. It shows that wives of unemployed men do two types of emotion work—self‐focused and other‐focused—and both are aimed toward facilitating husbands' success in the emotionally arduous white‐collar job‐search process. This article extends research on emotion work by suggesting that participants perceive wives' emotion work as a resource with potential economic benefits in the form of unemployed men's reemployment. The findings furthermore suggest …


Late-Life Widowhood In Developing Southeast Asia: Comparative Perspectives From Myanmar, Thailand, And Vietnam, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel Apr 2017

Late-Life Widowhood In Developing Southeast Asia: Comparative Perspectives From Myanmar, Thailand, And Vietnam, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We analyze recent aging surveys to examine the prevalence and correlates of widowhood among elderly in Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam and investigate how widowhood is associated with intergenerational support and old-age wellbeing. Widowhood is often associated with depressive symptoms, elevated mortality risk, and social-relationship changes. How one fares after spousal loss is nevertheless contingent on individual-level attributes, dyadic characteristics, and macro-social conditions. Thus, consequences likely vary across contexts. Most studies are conducted in western developed countries. Few existing Asia-focused research is primarily based on developed East Asia or China. Little is empirically known about the situation in non-western developing countries. …


What Does Successful Aging Mean? Lay Perception Of Successful Aging Among Elderly Singaporeans, Qiushi Feng, Paulin Tay Straughan Mar 2017

What Does Successful Aging Mean? Lay Perception Of Successful Aging Among Elderly Singaporeans, Qiushi Feng, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Objectives: We explore the culturally specific meaning of successful aging in Singapore, an ethnically diverse city-state in Asia. We aim to investigate lay perceptions of successful aging among the elderly individuals in Singapore and further examine variations of these perceptions. Methods: We applied a mixed-method research design. Firstly, we conducted qualitative interviews with 49 elderly respondents, generating 12 main subjective components of successful aging. Next, we did a national survey with a sample of 1,540 local residents aged 50 to 69 years, in which respondents were asked to evaluate the importance of each subjective component of successful aging. We used …


Gangs, Clubs, And Alcohol: The Effect Of Organizational Membership On Adolescent Drinking Behavior, Chan S. Suh, Matthew E. Brashears, Michael Genkin Jul 2016

Gangs, Clubs, And Alcohol: The Effect Of Organizational Membership On Adolescent Drinking Behavior, Chan S. Suh, Matthew E. Brashears, Michael Genkin

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

How does adolescent organizational membership in general, and simultaneous membership in distinct types of organizations in particular, impact drinking behavior? While past studies have focused either on the learning effect of involvement with gangs or on the constraining influence of conventional organizations on adolescent problem behavior, we explore the possibility that conventional school clubs can serve as socializing opportunities for existing gang members to engage in drinking behavior with non-gang club members. Using the Add Health data, we show that gang members drink more often, and engage in more binge drinking, than non-members. More importantly, individuals who are members of …


Find Your Own Meaning In Life, David Chan Jun 2016

Find Your Own Meaning In Life, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

‘Mortality saliency’ happens when a lovedone, friend or someone we know is suddenlystruck down by illness, and we start realisingafresh that life is fragile and want to live a lifeof meaning. A psychology professorsuggests how.


Structured Interviews Examining The Burden, Coping, Self-Efficacy, And Quality Of Life Among Family Caregivers Of Persons With Dementia In Singapore, Peter Kay Chai Tay, Chuen Chai Dennis Seow, Chunxiang Xiao, Hui Min Julian Lee, Helen Chiu, Sally Wai-Chi Chan Mar 2016

Structured Interviews Examining The Burden, Coping, Self-Efficacy, And Quality Of Life Among Family Caregivers Of Persons With Dementia In Singapore, Peter Kay Chai Tay, Chuen Chai Dennis Seow, Chunxiang Xiao, Hui Min Julian Lee, Helen Chiu, Sally Wai-Chi Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Dementia is a global health issue and the effects on caregivers are substantial. The study aimed to examine the associations of burden, coping, self-efficacy with quality of life among family caregivers of persons with dementia in Singapore. Structured interviews were conducted in a convenience sample of 84 family caregivers caring and seeking clinical care for the persons with dementia in an outpatient clinic of a public hospital in Singapore. The outcome measures included the Family Burden Interview Schedule, Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scale, General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, and World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale – Brief Version. In …


Singaporean Mothers' Perception Of Their Three-Year-Old Child's Weight Status: A Cross-Sectional Study, Tuck Seng Cheng, Et Al., Yee-Man Ivy Lau Jan 2016

Singaporean Mothers' Perception Of Their Three-Year-Old Child's Weight Status: A Cross-Sectional Study, Tuck Seng Cheng, Et Al., Yee-Man Ivy Lau

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Objective: Inaccurate parental perception of their child's weight status is commonly reported in Western countries. It is unclear whether similar misperception exists in Asian populations. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of Singaporean mothers to accurately describe their three-year-old child's weight status verbally and visually.


Living Arrangements And Psychological Well-Being Of The Elderly After The Economic Transition In Vietnam, Ken Yamada, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan Nov 2015

Living Arrangements And Psychological Well-Being Of The Elderly After The Economic Transition In Vietnam, Ken Yamada, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Objectives: We examine the relationship between living arrangements and psychological well-being of the older adults in Vietnam, where there is an influence of Confucian values and a lack of close substitutes for family care of the older adults, by exploiting a great deal of regional variation in economic development. We also examine the role of living arrangements in well-being differentials across regions. Method: We estimate a triangular simultaneous-equation discrete-response model, which accounts for the simultaneity between living arrangements and psychological well-being (happiness, depression, loneliness, poor appetite, and sleep disorder), using a nationally representative sample of 2,225 adults aged 60 and …


Do Parents Favor Their Adoptive Or Biological Children? Predictions From Kin Selection And Compensatory Models, Nancy L. Segal, Norman P. Li, Jamie L. Graham, Steven A. Miller Sep 2015

Do Parents Favor Their Adoptive Or Biological Children? Predictions From Kin Selection And Compensatory Models, Nancy L. Segal, Norman P. Li, Jamie L. Graham, Steven A. Miller

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Evolutionary reasoning (Kin Selection Theory) predicts less favorable behaviors directed by parents toward their unrelated children, relative to their biologically related children. By extension, it may be argued that parents should also have less favorable perceptions of the intellectual, personality and other behavioral traits of unrelated children, compared with biologically related children. However, recent work has modified this expectation, given the distinction between unrelated adopted children (who are acquired intentionally) and unrelated stepchildren (who are acquired via mating effort). The compensatory model takes into account evolved desires for parenting and the evolutionarily novel availability of unrelated children. It predicts that …


Too Materialistic To Get Married And Have Children?, Norman P. Li, Amy J. Y. Lim, Ming-Hong Tsai, Jiaqing O May 2015

Too Materialistic To Get Married And Have Children?, Norman P. Li, Amy J. Y. Lim, Ming-Hong Tsai, Jiaqing O

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We developed new materials to induce a luxury mindset and activate materialistic values, and examined materialism’s relationship to attitudes toward marriage and having children in Singapore. Path analyses indicated that materialistic values led to more negative attitudes toward marriage, which led to more negative attitudes toward children, which in turn led to a decreased number of children desired. Results across two studies highlight, at the individual level, the tradeoff between materialistic values and attitudes toward marriage and procreation and suggest that a consideration of psychological variables such as materialistic values may allow for a better understanding of larger-scale socioeconomic issues …


Values, Outrage And The Good Society, David Chan Dec 2014

Values, Outrage And The Good Society, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In an invited commentary, SMU Behavioural Sciences Institute Director Professor David Chan discussed the positives in public outrage and controversies. He explained how the reactions to some local headline events in 2014 reflected specific shared values and guiding principles in Singapore.


Results From The Perception And Attitudes Towards Ageing And Seniors Survey (2013/2014), Mathew Mathews, Paulin Tay Straughan Oct 2014

Results From The Perception And Attitudes Towards Ageing And Seniors Survey (2013/2014), Mathew Mathews, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

While discussions on ageing previously centred on dependency ratios and healthcare infrastructure, there has been a growing attention to the other aspects of growing old, such as its social and emotional dimensions. There has also been a move in recent years to rethink the construct of ageing an frame it in a more positive way.In this paper we document some of the results derived from the Perception and Attitudes towards Ageing and Seniors (PATAS) survey completed in early 2014. These results delve into respondents’ beliefs about achieving successful ageing — what it constitutes how it can be achieved and respondents’ …


The Strength Of Sibling Ties: Sibling Influence On Status Attainment In A Chinese Family, Qian Forrest Zhang Feb 2014

The Strength Of Sibling Ties: Sibling Influence On Status Attainment In A Chinese Family, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

What allowed eight siblings from a politically disadvantaged rural family to overcome institutional barriers and achieve upward mobility during Maoist China? What then restricted their children’s chances of upward mobility during the Reform era, when both family background and institutional environment were more favourable? In studying this anomalous case, whose experiences contradicted the well-documented effects of state policies and yet cannot be explained by parental influence, this study examines how adult siblings influenced each other’s status attainment processes, an issue largely neglected in the literature. Through comparing the micro-level mobility processes of the two generations in this family, I propose …


Gender Disparities In Self-Employment In Urban China's Market Transition: Income Inequality, Occupational Segregation And Mobility Processes, Qian Forrest Zhang Sep 2013

Gender Disparities In Self-Employment In Urban China's Market Transition: Income Inequality, Occupational Segregation And Mobility Processes, Qian Forrest Zhang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper presents the first quantitative analysis of gender disparities in selfemployment in urban China. It documents the extent of gender income inequality in selfemployment. By disaggregating self-employment into three occupational classes, it shows the gender segregation within self-employment—women were concentrated in the financially least rewarding segment—and identifies it as a main source of the gender income inequality. It examines a range of determinants of participation in self employment—family structure, family background, and career history—and how their gender-specific effects contributed to gender segregation. Although using data from a 1996 national survey, this study captures two key processes that shaped the …


Transnational Youth Transitions: Becoming Adults Between Vancouver And Hong Kong, Justin Kh Tse, Johanna L. Waters Feb 2013

Transnational Youth Transitions: Becoming Adults Between Vancouver And Hong Kong, Justin Kh Tse, Johanna L. Waters

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In the context of the academic interest shown in the enduring transnation-alism of contemporary migrants and in the modes of transitions to adulthood in different global settings, in this article we examine the transnational lives of adolescents moving between Vancouver (Canada) and Hong Kong. While there is a lot of literature on the parents’ political and economic calculations, there is very little on how adolescents in these situations articulate their geographical sensibilities. We draw on three periods of fieldwork undertaken in 2002, 2008 and 2010 during which we employed a transnational methodology to interview young people in Vancouver and Hong …


Women’S Entry Into Self-Employment In Urban China: The Role Of Family In Creating Gendered Mobility Patterns, Qian Forrest Zhang, Zi Pan Jun 2012

Women’S Entry Into Self-Employment In Urban China: The Role Of Family In Creating Gendered Mobility Patterns, Qian Forrest Zhang, Zi Pan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

How did family characteristics affect women and men differently in self-employment participation in urban China? Analyses of national data show dual marriage penalties for women. Marketization made married women more vulnerable to lay-offs from state-sector jobs; their likelihood of being pushed into unskilled self-employment surpassed that of any other groups. The revitalized patriarchal family tradition favored men in family businesses and resulted in their higher rates of entering entrepreneurial self-employment. Married women who had the education to pursue entrepreneurial self-employment were constrained by family responsibilities to state-sector jobs for access to family services, and had much lower rates in entering …


The Long-Term Impact Of War On Health And Wellbeing In Northern Vietnam: Some Glimpses From A Recent Survey, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Kim Korinek Jun 2012

The Long-Term Impact Of War On Health And Wellbeing In Northern Vietnam: Some Glimpses From A Recent Survey, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Kim Korinek

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

War is considered one of the most intransigent obstacles to development; yet, the long-run effects of war on individual health have rarely been examined in the context of developing countries. Based on unique data recently collected as a pilot follow-up to the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey, this study examines health status of northern Vietnamese war cohorts (those who entered adulthood during the Vietnam War and now represent Vietnam’s older-adult population). To ascertain whether and how war impacts old-age physical and mental health, we compare multi-dimensional measures of health among war survivors, including civilians, combatants, noncombatants, and nonveterans involved in militia activities. …


Tradition And Change In Marriage Payments In Vietnam, 1963-2000, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel Apr 2012

Tradition And Change In Marriage Payments In Vietnam, 1963-2000, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study analyses data from the Vietnam Study of Family Change to document trends and determinants of marriage payments in Vietnam from 1963 to 2000. We investigate the extent to which structural and policy transformations influenced the practice of payments, and estimate how societal changes indirectly impacted payments via their effects on population characteristics. Results indicate that marriage payments surged following market reform, but also reveal nuanced trends during earlier years. While the socialist attempts to eradicate brideprice appear to have been successful in the North before economic renovation, they were unsuccessful in the South. Structural and policy change explained …


The Incompatibility Of Materialism And The Desire For Children: Psychological Insights Into The Fertility Discrepancy Among Modern Countries, Norman P. Li, Lily Patel, Daniel Balliet, William Tov, Christie N. Scollon Jul 2011

The Incompatibility Of Materialism And The Desire For Children: Psychological Insights Into The Fertility Discrepancy Among Modern Countries, Norman P. Li, Lily Patel, Daniel Balliet, William Tov, Christie N. Scollon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We examined factors related to attitudes toward marriage and the importance of having children in both the US and Singapore. Path analysis indicated that life dissatisfaction leads to materialism, and both of these factors lead to favorable attitudes toward marriage, which leads to greater desire for children. Further analysis indicated this model"We examined factors related to attitudes toward marriage and the importance of having children in both the US and Singapore. Path analysis indicated that life dissatisfaction leads to materialism, and both of these factors lead to favorable attitudes toward marriage, which leads to greater desire for children. Further analysis …


Change And Persistence In Marriage Payments In Vietnam, 1963-2000, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel Apr 2011

Change And Persistence In Marriage Payments In Vietnam, 1963-2000, Bussarawan Puk Teerawichitchainan, John Knodel

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Among various marriage and family practices, economic exchange at the time of marriage is one of the most multifaceted and complex. Prevalence, direction, magnitude, and property rights of marriage payments can vary considerably over time and across societies. Despite their implications for the wellbeing of family members and the distribution of wealth across generations, trends and determinants of payments have rarely been examined at the population level. Based on representative data from the Vietnam Study of Family Change, we describe temporal trends, cohort patterns, and regional differences in payments among Vietnamese marriages contracted during 1963-2000 to ascertain influences of cultural …


The Long-Term Impact Of War On Health And Well-Being In Northern Vietnam: Some Glimpses From A Recent Survey, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan Mar 2011

The Long-Term Impact Of War On Health And Well-Being In Northern Vietnam: Some Glimpses From A Recent Survey, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

War is considered one of the most intransigent obstacles to development; yet, the long-run effects of war on individual health have rarely been examined in the context of developing countries. Based on unique data recently collected as a pilot follow-up to the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey, this study examines health status of northern Vietnamese war cohorts (those who entered adulthood during the Vietnam War and now represent Vietnam’s older-adult population). To ascertain whether and how war impacts old-age physical and mental health, we compare multi-dimensional measures of health among war survivors, including civilians, combatants, noncombatants, and nonveterans involved in militia ctivities. …


Not Yet Married: The Implications Of Meanings Of Marriage On Youths In Singapore, Paulin T. Straughan Jan 2011

Not Yet Married: The Implications Of Meanings Of Marriage On Youths In Singapore, Paulin T. Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Marriage is a social construct that takes on different meanings as societies develop and mature. To understand why people get married, it is important that we understand what marriage means. This paper will discuss the social transformation of marriage in Asia using Singapore as a case study. To examine two demographic trends- delayed marriage, and the increasing proportion of people who remain single - this discourse also explores the constraints imposed by contradictions between traditional norms and modern expectations. In the midst of these ideological challenges, there are important implications for the practice of marriage among younger Singaporeans. We see …


Evolving With The Times: The Changing Landscape Of Work Life Integration In Singapore, Paulin Tay Straughan Jan 2011

Evolving With The Times: The Changing Landscape Of Work Life Integration In Singapore, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This year, we celebrate 10 years of our journey and look toward a new chapter in our history as we communicate the relevance and increasing importance of Work-Life strategies for developing human capital today. We consolidated research studies on Work-Life Integration to date so as to understand what has been accomplished in this field and set directions and trends for future research. We commissioned A/P Paulin Tay Straughan, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences and Deputy Head of the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore, to conduct this research. The study unearthed several interesting …


Who Is James Bond? The Dark Triad As An Agentic Social Style, Peter K. Jonason, Norman P. Li, Emily A. Teicher Jun 2010

Who Is James Bond? The Dark Triad As An Agentic Social Style, Peter K. Jonason, Norman P. Li, Emily A. Teicher

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

If the Dark Triad are costly traits for individuals to have and individuals are predisposed to avoid interacting with selfish individuals, how do those who have those traits extract resources from their environment? We contend that a specific set of personality traits will enable individuals to do so. We showed that those who are disagreeable, extraverted, open, and have high self-esteem along with low levels of neuroticism and conscientiousness score high on the Dark Triad (Study 1: N = 216). Additionally, having a more individualistic and competitive approach to others and not a strongly altruistic orientation will also help those …


Congkak, A Game That Connects Us With The World, Margaret Chan Feb 2010

Congkak, A Game That Connects Us With The World, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Very Low Fertility In Pacific Asian Countries: Causes And Policy Responses, Paulin Tay Straughan Sep 2008

Very Low Fertility In Pacific Asian Countries: Causes And Policy Responses, Paulin Tay Straughan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Only 40 years ago, population experts were still worried about a population explosion that would threaten the future of humanity. Fortunately, while population growth is currently largely under control, sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia still face massive increases with very serious potential consequences. Paradoxically, however, a new problem is emerging, with its key locus in Pacific Asia (the term used in this book to refer to Asian countries with a Pacific littoral). This problem is ultra-low fertility. Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong SAR are among the very lowest-fertility countries in the whole world, and even …


Predicting The Psychological Health Of Older Adults: Interaction Of Age-Based Rejection Sensitivity And Discriminative Facility, Debbie Sau-King Chow, Evelyn Wing-Mun Au, Chi-Yue Chiu Feb 2008

Predicting The Psychological Health Of Older Adults: Interaction Of Age-Based Rejection Sensitivity And Discriminative Facility, Debbie Sau-King Chow, Evelyn Wing-Mun Au, Chi-Yue Chiu

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

We hypothesize that older adults who anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to social rejection because of their old age (i.e., have high age-based rejection sensitivity) are vulnerable to depression and poor social functioning. We further hypothesize that the association between age-based rejection sensitivity and poor psychological health would be attenuated among older adults who possess adequate cognitive coping ability--they can discern and respond discriminatively to subtle variations in situational demands (i.e., have high discriminative facility). Based on the results of a focus group study, we constructed an age-based rejection sensitivity measure, which predicts greater depression, poorer social functioning, …