COVID-19 has disrupted many aspects of adolescents' lives, yet little data are available that document their subjective experiences of the pandemic. In a mixed-methods study of U.S. adolescents, we ...examined (1) adolescents' perceptions of how their social and emotional lives had changed during COVID-19; and (2) associations between these perceived changes and indices of their mental health, above and beyond their prepandemic mental health status.
Four hundred seven U.S. adolescents (Mage = 15.24, standard deviation = 1.69; 50% female; 52%, 20% African American, 17% Hispanic/Latinx) completed surveys before (October 2019) and during (April 2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. They provided qualitative and quantitative responses on their experiences with COVID-19 and reports of their mental health.
Adolescents perceived various changes in their relationships with family and friends (e.g., less perceived friend support) during COVID-19. They also perceived increases in negative affect and decreases in positive affect. These perceived social and emotional changes were associated with elevated depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and loneliness in April 2020, controlling for mental health problems before the pandemic.
Our findings sensitize clinicians and scholars to the vulnerabilities (changes in friendship dynamics), as well as resiliencies (supportive family contexts), presented to U.S. adolescents during the early months of COVID-19.
Time is among the most important yet mysterious aspects of experience. We investigated everyday mental time travel, especially into the future. Two community samples, contacted at random points for 3 ...(Study 1; 6,686 reports) and 14 days (Study 2; 2,361 reports), reported on their most recent thought. Both studies found that thoughts about the present were frequent, thoughts about the future also were common, whereas thoughts about the past were rare. Thoughts about the present were on average highly happy and pleasant but low in meaningfulness. Pragmatic prospection (thoughts preparing for action) was evident in thoughts about planning and goals. Thoughts with no time aspect were lower in sociality and experiential richness. Thoughts about the past were relatively unpleasant and involuntary. Subjective experiences of thinking about past and future often were similar—while both differed from present focus, consistent with views that memory and prospection use similar mental structures.
Video conference meetings, which became frequent during the COVID‐19 pandemic, might result in exhaustion (so‐called “Zoom fatigue”). However, only little is known about “Zoom fatigue,” the objective ...characteristics shaping it, and the subjective experiences eliciting this phenomenon. Gaining this knowledge is critical for understanding work life during the pandemic. Study 1, a within‐person quantitative investigation, tested whether video conferences are exhausting and if objective characteristics (i.e. meeting size, meeting duration, and the presence of the supervisor) moderate “Zoom fatigue”. Employees from Germany and Israel (N = 81) participated in a 2‐week study, with meetings nested within persons (n = 988). Results showed that video conferences are exhausting—more than meetings held through other media. However, objective characteristics did not moderate this relationship. In Study 2, qualitative data from Germany and Israel (N = 53) revealed employees' subjective experiences in video conferences that may lead to “Zoom fatigue”. These include, for example, experiences of loss and comparison with the “good old times” before the pandemic. Employees suggested ways to mitigate “Zoom fatigue,” particularly, better management of meetings by leaders. Our results provide empirical support for “Zoom fatigue” and suggest which subjective experiences elicit this phenomenon, opening directions for research and practice.
Despite growing interest in the concept of gig work, the nature and quality of gig work is not well understood. The article builds on recent research by exploring gig work through an application of ...notions of job quality associated with Scotland's Fair Work Convention. Further, in recognising the multidimensional nature of job quality and the divide between objective versus subjective approaches to job quality, the article adopts a checklist or job characteristics approach, focusing on objective aspects of quality work, whilst drawing on subjective experiences to capture lived experience of gig work. A key finding is, in spite of a deficit in objective characteristics of Fair Work, the subjective experience varies between platforms as well as in accordance with individual worker characteristics, such as between those undertaking gig work as a primary or supplementary source of income. A further key finding suggests the growth in gig work reflects the normalisation of what in the past would constitute poor working conditions. Taken together, the findings highlight limitations of theoretical models of job quality due to an emphasis on traditional employment.
Fombonne’s (2020) editorial is a thought‐provoking appraisal of the literature on ‘camouflaging’, whereby some autistic people mask or compensate for their autistic characteristics as an attempt to ...fit in and to cope with disabilities under neurotypical social norms. Fombonne (2020) highlights three issues of contention: (a) construct validity and measurement of camouflaging; (b) camouflaging as a reason for late autism diagnosis in adolescence/adulthood; and (c) camouflaging as a feature of the ‘female autism phenotype’. Here, we argue that (a) establishing construct validity and measurement of different aspects of camouflaging is warranted; (b) subjective experiences are important for the differential diagnosis of autism in adolescence/adulthood; and (c) camouflaging is not necessarily a feature of autism in female individuals – nevertheless, taking into account sex and gender influences in development is crucial to understand behavioural manifestations of autism. Future research and clinical directions should involve clarification of associated constructs and measurements, demography, mechanisms, impact (including harms and benefits) and tailored support.
Psychology was established as a separate discipline when it split from philosophy. With the founding of Wundt’s lab and subsequent developments by Külpe, Titchener, and others, psychology was ...championed initially as a distinct science, in which controlled experiments played a major role. A parallel approach, beginning with Wundt, that eschews causal explanations established through controlled experiments and focuses on qualitative descriptions based on the subjective experiences of individuals, also developed. We describe alternative positions throughout the history of psychology as to whether these approaches accomplish the goals of treating psychology as a natural science. From a historical account, the mechanistic worldview provides a foundation for psychological science, as compared to a contextualistic worldview. We conclude that a mechanistic worldview, as seen in the history of psychology, has appropriate goals for the approach of continuing psychology’s development as a natural science, with the distinction between worldviews remaining a prominent philosophical task.
This study examines women’s use of egg freezing as a tool to renegotiate the relationship between romantic and reproductive trajectories and temporalities. We interviewed 52 participants who were ...considering freezing their eggs, were in the process of freezing their eggs, had already frozen their eggs, or had considered freezing their eggs and chose not to do so. We find that most of our participants used egg freezing to disentangle the trajectory of finding a partner from the trajectory of having children, with the end goal of bundled marriage and childbearing. For some participants, this temporary disentangling is an intermediate step toward fully decoupling these trajectories through single parenthood. Using this critical case, we move beyond previous work on sequencing and timing in the life course by focusing on (1) individuals’ subjective experiences of time and (2) the ways women manage and manipulate time in the life course. Finally, we show how these theoretical tools can be used to better understand other empirical cases in the life course.
Social network sites (SNS) have become an integral part of the daily lives of billions of users, including adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is a seeming contrast between ASD, ...characterized by social communication difficulties, and SNS use, requiring social skills. However, few studies examine these adolescents' personal and subjective experiences on and their self-reports regarding the benefits and difficulties of using them.
This study examines the communication strategies of adolescents with ASD in using SNS, through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 10 adolescents diagnosed with ASD.
Findings are on three main aspects: reasons for using SNS, actual SNS use, and social characteristics of ASD as expressed through SNS engagement.
The main finding is that SNS use among adolescents with ASD exposes their deficiencies in communication despite providing emotional support. This study highlights the importance of guiding SNS use by adolescents with ASD.
How can we understand secrecy as temporal processes in organization? How can we address the inherent dynamics between concealment and revelation over time? In this article, we build on an inherent ...and yet overlooked character of secrecy as temporal, and explore temporalization processes of secrecy. We suggest that secrecy should be reconceptualized as processes of simultaneous concealment and revelation in multiple temporalities. Drawing on such temporal sensitivity, we apply a history-laden analysis of four examples of archival stories as ongoingly completing processes of secrecy. The analysis sheds light on the paradoxical dynamics of secrecy in three interconnected ways: first, writing archival stories offer opportunities to mask and attack the concealed. Therefore, second, archival stories as the site and process that sustain secrecy can become the site where secrecy is revealed. In this sense, as the third way, secrecy is ongoingly and fragmentally formed, producing multiple and subjective experiences of time. This article also contributes to the methodological potential for using archival stories in organizational studies.
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