Community Participation and Action as A Remedy For Social Problems and A Catalyst for Human Development: A Global Perspective

A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018) | Viewed by 11046

Special Issue Editor

Department of Psychology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 104 East University Avenue, P.O. Box 43644, Lafayette, LA 70504, USA
Interests: community psychology; place attachment; cross-cultural psychology; immigration; education and teaching strategies; sexuality and gender studies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Community psychology emphasizes the role of community, society, and systems in the understanding of individuals' behaviors, health, social problems and human development. This Special Issue focuses on how community (broadly defined), such as sense of community, community engagement, community support, empowerment, social capital or even online/social media community help to alleviate various social problems or influence human development and social activism in areas such as immigration, prejudice, discrimination, inter-racial relations, sexual assault, and education. For example, previous studies found that attachment and engagement to a community could lead to positive outcomes, such as students' higher academic motivation (Li et al., 2013), higher intention to volunteer in the future (Li et al., 2016), individuals' empowerment (Speer et al., 2001), and healthiness (Hyyppä and Mäki, 2003).

In addition, this Special Issue adopts a global perspective. Studies that investigate or compare one or more cultural contexts are particularly welcome. Empirical studies are preferred, but theoretical and review papers will also be considered. All submissions will be peer-reviewed. Deadline to submit the manuscript is 31 July, 2018.

Dr. Manyu Li
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 371 KiB  
Article
Perceptions of Stress and Enrichment in Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for Community Support
by Hung-Chu Lin, Janna Bourque, Paula Zeanah and Robert McFatter
Societies 2018, 8(3), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8030088 - 17 Sep 2018
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4143
Abstract
Compared to negative experiences associated with parenting a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), research has paid much less attention to positive aspects of experiences. This study examined both experiences of stress and enrichment in parenting a child with ASD to provide insights [...] Read more.
Compared to negative experiences associated with parenting a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), research has paid much less attention to positive aspects of experiences. This study examined both experiences of stress and enrichment in parenting a child with ASD to provide insights for practical community support services. Eighty-seven caregivers responded to the Effects of the Situation Questionnaire, a modified version of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (2nd Ed.), and the Parental Sense of Competence Scale. Stress and enrichment were examined in their relations to child symptom severity, number of child-focused services, and parenting self-efficacy. Parenting self-efficacy and perceived level of stress, but not child symptom severity or number of child-focused services, were correlated with parental experiences of enrichment. The link between parenting self-efficacy and enrichment was mitigated by reported levels of stress. The findings revealed the paradoxical existence of enrichment experiences despite challenges in parenting a child with ASD. Notably, a higher number of community supports was associated with higher levels of stress, suggesting quality of support may be more important than involvement in numerous services. Moreover, enrichment occurs disregarding child’s symptoms and entails properly managing stress and a sense of parenting efficacy. Full article
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8 pages, 354 KiB  
Article
A Social Network Analysis of the Impact of a Teacher and Student Community on Academic Motivation in a Science Classroom
by Manyu Li and Heather Nicole Stone
Societies 2018, 8(3), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8030068 - 23 Aug 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3746
Abstract
(1) Background: The Teacher and student community plays an important role in students’ academic development. Previous studies showed that students’ academic success is influenced by their social relations in school. This study extended to use a mix of social network analysis and survey [...] Read more.
(1) Background: The Teacher and student community plays an important role in students’ academic development. Previous studies showed that students’ academic success is influenced by their social relations in school. This study extended to use a mix of social network analysis and survey methodology to understand how eighth-grade students’ network and perceived teacher’s support relate to their academic motivation. (2) Methods: A total of 95 eighth graders with the same teacher in a middle school in the southeastern United States were recruited. (3) Results: Results showed that the number of friendship nominations received (i.e., in-degree), degree centrality and betweenness centrality significantly correlated with higher academic motivation. In addition, a regression model analysis showed that perceived teacher’s support, together with more friendship nominations, predicted higher academic motivation. Full article
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16 pages, 251 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Economic Vulnerability on the Participation in Development Programs and the Socio-Economic Well-Being of Low-Income Households
by Wan Nurulasiah binti Wan Mustapa, Abdullah Al Mamun and Mohamed Dahlan Ibrahim
Societies 2018, 8(3), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8030060 - 27 Jul 2018
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2755
Abstract
This study intends to examine the effect of economic vulnerability on participation in development initiatives, household income, micro-enterprise income and net worth of micro-enterprise asset among low-income households in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. Adopting a cross-sectional design, this study collected data from [...] Read more.
This study intends to examine the effect of economic vulnerability on participation in development initiatives, household income, micro-enterprise income and net worth of micro-enterprise asset among low-income households in the state of Kelantan, Malaysia. Adopting a cross-sectional design, this study collected data from randomly selected 450 micro-entrepreneurs who were being served by three major development organizations in Kelantan, Malaysia. The findings revealed that the level of economic vulnerability among the respondents had a significantly negative effect on the participation of development initiatives, household income, micro-enterprise income and the net worth of microenterprise asset among the low-income Kelantanese households. This study provided insights for a comprehensive policy formulation for rural development as it identified program participation issues and gaps faced by the targeted cohort, which if effectively addressed can lead to an increase in participation in development programs, together with household and micro-enterprise income and assets, among the low-income economically vulnerable households in Kelantan, Malaysia. Full article
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