Nimble-footed Zimbabwean migrants: (im)mobility and the porousness of borders between South Africa and Zimbabwe during the Covid-19 national lockdown

This ethnographic study highlights the impact of Covid-19 border closures on the migration patterns of Zimbabwean cross-border migrants. Data in this study were collected using qualitative techniques, one-on-one telephonic interviews and social media platforms from 20 participants over a period of five months. The data were analysed using the theoretical framework of conviviality. Our findings indicate that Zimbabwean cross-border migrants managed to cross into South Africa and back despite restrictions, which suggests that border closures had a limited impact on migration. By drawing on the narratives of Zimbabwean cross-border migrants, we illustrate how migrants, goods and remittances managed to move and how social networks such as hushamwari [friendship] played a significant role in facilitating illegal border jumping, revealing the permeability and porousness of state borders to many diverse types of incursions. The closure of national borders during lockdowns highlights the differences between migrants and border jumpers, the latter of which chose to smuggle goods in novel ways, even though they possess legal documentation and economic status. (English) [ FROM AUTHOR] Este estudo etnográfico destaca o impacto do fechamento de fronteiras durante a pandemia de Covid-19 nos padrões de migração dos migrantes transfronteiriços do Zimbábue. Os dados deste estudo foram coletados usando técnicas qualitativas, entrevistas telefônicas individuais e plataformas de mídia social com 20 participantes durante um período de cinco meses. Os dados foram analisados a partir do referencial teórico da convivialidade. Nossas descobertas indicam que os migrantes transfronteiriços do Zimbábue conseguiram entrar e voltar da África do Sul apesar das restrições, o que sugere que o fechamento das fronteiras teve um impacto limitado na migração. A partir das narrativas dos migrantes transfronteiriços do Zimbábue, ilustramos como migrantes, bens e remessas conseguiram circular e como as redes sociais como hushamwari [amizade] desempenharam um papel significativo na facilitação do salto ilegal de fronteira, revelando a permeabilidade e a porosidade das fronteiras dos Estados aos mais diversos tipos de incursões. O fechamento das fronteiras nacionais durante o confinamento destaca as diferenças entre migrantes e saltadores de fronteira, tendo estes últimos optado por contrabandear mercadorias de novas maneiras, embora possuam documentação legal e status econômico. (Portuguese) [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Anthropology Southern Africa (2332-3256) is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

An exploratory study of the social and emotional impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ+ adolescents living in rural communities

This study examined the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on 16 LGBTQ+ individuals 16 -18 years of age in rural Washington. Data were collected using semi structured virtual interviews, an Experience Questionnaire (EQ) and the Behavioral Assessment Scale for Children - Edition 3 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BASC-3). A few major themes emerged from the data: changes in relationships, negative psychological impacts, resiliency, and challenges such as barriers, tensions, and routine changes. Participants found COVID-19 restrictions created barriers to accessing social outlets such as extracurricular activities, LGBTQ+ community center, and so on, as well as engaging with resources for mental and physical health. Participants reported that navigating the significant changes in routines due to school closings and social distancing measures negatively impacted their mental health. Online school, increased home responsibilities, lack of structure or routine, and pressure to maintain grades were the main stressors found to contribute to a decline in mental health. Tensions related to having differing opinions from family members were often triggered or exacerbated by increased proximity with family, due to being stuck at home. Tensions also included experiences of homophobia, transphobia, and racism. These tensions contributed to lower mental health, as many participants felt "trapped" in their own home and unable to reveal parts of their identity. Participants reported that COVID-19 restrictions also impacted their relationships positively in some ways. Some participants found that COVID-19 restrictions allowed them to get out of negative relationships, identify healthy or positive friendships, and be more intentional in their friendships. Although most participants experienced negative psychological impacts on their mental health, many were also able to identify areas of resiliency and improvement. Participants identified new methods for coping, found new and innovative ways to engage with support networks, and found that increased time alone allowed for self-improvement and unprecedented identity exploration. Results of the study add to the limited research currently available about the impact COVID-19 restrictions had on LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas and provide critical information for professionals who work with school-aged LGBTQ+ populations, especially those living in rural communities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

AsianCrit lens on Chinese international student multi-dimensional transitions and experiences in the US

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine Chinese international students' narrative stories, experiences and racial dynamics while studying in the United States to argue that Chinese international students navigate multi-dimensional transitions and experiences in different stages. This study uses an AsianCrit lens to address the gap in existing research focusing on Chinese international students' narratives and experiences.Design/methodology/approachNarrative inquiry with a social constructivist paradigm was used to provide an in-depth exploration of Chinese international students' navigation and negotiation in multi-dimensional experiences. Three phases of semi-structured interviews and journal entries were utilized to examine participants' experiences and struggles while studying in the United States. Descriptive coding, deductive coding and restorying were used to analyze and feather narrators' voices and stories for interpretation.FindingsThe findings in this qualitative study demonstrate that Chinese international students have unique backgrounds, and their backgrounds shape their multi-dimensional transitions and experiences in the present and the future. The findings address students' nuanced experiences in academic transitions and non-academic transitions with an AsianCrit lens.Practical implicationsThe study calls for higher education institutions to promote intercultural and international training for faculty and staff to better understand and support the unique needs of international students.Originality/valueUsing Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transitions theory with an AsianCrit lens helps make sense of the intersection of international student status, geopolitical tensions, racial dynamics and international student experiences.

COVID-19 and friendships: Agreeableness and neuroticism are associated with more concern about COVID-19 and friends' risky behaviors.

Given the importance of friendships during challenging times and the mixed associations between personality traits and disease-related behaviors, we investigated the correlations between personality traits and perceptions of friendships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal investigation of the correlations between the pandemic and various cooperative relationships. In this investigation, we found that agreeableness and neuroticism predicted participants being more concerned about COVID-19 and bothered by friends' risky behavior, and extraversion predicted enjoying helping friends during the pandemic. Our results suggest that personality differences are associated with how individuals cope with friends' risky behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Intergroup Contact, Traditional and Social Media Use, and Attitudes Toward Chinese People in COVID-19: US College Students' Perspective

Guided by cultivation theory and intergroup contact theory, we examined how U.S. college students' traditional media use and social media use for information about COVID-19, and direct contact with Chinese were associated with their behavioral attitudes toward Chinese people in this survey study. Findings indicated that contact quality was positively associated with attitudes toward Chinese people. Moderation analyses indicated that traditional media use negatively predicted behavioral attitudes toward Chinese people for those with no Chinese friends and was a nonsignificant predictor for those with one or more Chinese friends. Furthermore, results indicated that social media use was positively associated with attitudes toward Chinese people for those who had high contact quality with Chinese but was a nonsignificant predictor for those who had low contact quality. Overall findings ruminate the critical role of intergroup contact quality and friendship in reducing intergroup prejudice in COVID-19.

Emerging Adults during the Pandemic: The Experiences of Generation Z in the Context of Self-Determination Theory

The COVID-19 Pandemic is associated with many radical changes in the lives of young adults. Their developmental and generational characteristics would likely affect their experiences of Pandemic. This study explores their experiences in the context of school, family, and friendship during the Pandemic. The sample consisted of 23 college students. Qualitative data were collected online and analyzed with the thematic analysis method. The results showed that their experiences in the school context resulted in seven themes: difficulties with online classes, benefits, negative mood, coping strategies, loss of socialization opportunities at school, return to daily life, and physical conditions. The themes in the family context were the need for autonomy, increasing conflict, improved family relationships, and no change. Finally, in the friendship context, the themes of losses, coping strategies, emotions, no change, and gains emerged. Results were discussed in terms of the self-determination perspective and generational characteristics of the sample.

Adolescents' In-Person and Online Interactions With Friends During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Associations With Loneliness and Depressive Symptoms

Adolescents' interactions with friends were severely disrupted during stay-at-home orders associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study (N = 144, 49% female, 80% European American) considered adolescents' perceptions of this disruption and the implications of the disruption for their emotional adjustment. Adolescents reported that not seeing friends was the most distressing consequence of the pandemic. Compared to before the pandemic, adolescents reported a large decrease in in-person interactions with friends, which was related to loneliness. There was a small increase in online interactions, which could counteract the effects of fewer in-person interactions, but only if the interactions felt socially connected. Online interactions lacking social connection were related to greater loneliness and depressive symptoms.

Children's digital friendship practices during the first Covid-19 lockdown

During the Covid-19 pandemic, digital technologies have come to the forefront of most people's social, professional, and educational lives, and children have, like everyone else, depended on digital media for remote schooling as well as informal communication with their peers. This article presents results from a qualitative interview study among 20 Danish children, aged 3-12, and their parents during the spring and summer of 2020. As would be expected, age predicted a certain level of proficiency with, and access to, digital media technologies. However, children across the age spectrum of our sample relied on adult facilitation of digital practices in similar ways during a time where these were foregrounded in unforeseen ways. We discuss these findings in relation to a triadic theoretical framework of distributed agency, dynamic affordances, and access-oriented aspects of children's practices with communication technology. © 2023 The Author(s).

A Poetry Lifeline Across Hemispheres Through Crises. Conversation/Interchange: Some Days The Bird

When I picked it up at AWP 2016 (the Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference held each year in the U.S.), I fell in love with the dozen poems they published as part of their exchange. [...]when Heather approached me about a poetry collaboration just before Christmas of that annus horribilis we were all racing to adios, how could I decline? I swept aside the teetering pile of work and doctoral deadlines, shut the door on the clamouring domestic to-do list and neatly packaged up the most pressing obstacle in a small envelope sealed with sticky-tape and shoved into a bottom drawer. Surely not an obstacle in the writing of a book centred around gardens, I hypothesised as the carrot of conversing in verse with Heather dangled so tantalisingly. Because of these missives across the Pacific, I could imagine her father's garden in Ireland and the pain of her separation from him during Australia's lengthy lockdown, and she could empathise with my care and concerns for my own beloved father, whom we lost earlier this year.

The Health Hexagon Model: Postulating a holistic lifestyle approach to mental health for times and places of uncertainty

Professional-driven mental health services are often predicated on westernized beliefs of mental health and distress. This presumptuous view results in treatment solutions that are not suitable to (many) non-western contexts because they are neither culturally valid nor practically sufficient. Instead of promoting imported ideas of mental health, we encourage communities, including Hong Kong, from and for where the authors primarily theorize the current thesis, to turn to and strengthen the resources they employed before the medicalization of distress and suffering. Basic foundational elements in one's everyday life, which we present here as the Health Hexagon Model, should be promoted, especially healthy sleep, healthy diet, regular physical activity, closeness with nature, supportive kinships and friendships, and a sense of purpose, meaning, or sacredness. These elements are not novel;the importance of these basic elements has been recognized, distilled, and transmitted generation after generation. We advocate for communities to identify the missing or hampered fundamental elements in their lives and focus on finding methods that would help them adopt a lifestyle conducive to individual and collective health. This call-to-action is particularly timely as the global community fights for its survival against the coronavirus and ponders ways to cope with the seismic changes in lifestyle it has brought.Copyright © 2022 The Authors

"Disconnected from the World:" Exploring How the COVID- 19 Pandemic Shaped Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Survivors' Daily Lives

Background/Purpose: Adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors experience acute and long-term challenges, including disruptions to developmental milestones, altered relationships, and difficulty managing follow-up care. The COVID-19 pandemic likely exacerbated these challenges, but, to date, we know little about young survivors' day-to-day lives during this time. Here, we qualitatively assessed AYA cancer survivors' pandemic-related experiences. Method(s): Thirty-five AYA cancer survivors (85% female, Mage = 32.7 years, 71% White, September 2020-March 2021) wrote factual details about their day-to-day lives (e.g., "what is a typical day like?") as part of a larger randomized controlled trial. Participants were, on average, 5.9 years post-diagnosis;the majority were diagnosed with lymphoma (25.7%) or thyroid cancer (17.1%). Data were analyzed using constant comparative method. Result(s): Five themes emerged: (1) job changes (e.g., inability to work due to immunosuppression, fear career would become less viable);(2) limited interactions/relational depth (e.g., feeling "left out" due to immunosuppression, inability to date, risky family behaviors limit meaningful connection);(3) varying reactions to virtual communication (e.g., gratitude for online schooling, exercise, and social media, withdrawing from friendships due to "zoom burn out," not attending therapy due to lack of engagement);(4) difficulty engaging in health-promoting behaviors and attending/interacting in medical appointments (e.g., problems maintaining nutrition and exercise routines, postponing surveillance appointments, missing family member presence in medical appointments), and (5) disruptions/ delays to post-treatment milestones/plans (e.g., delaying vocational changes, wedding and family planning, and celebratory travel). Notably, no themes associated with positive adjustment emerged. Conclusions and Implications: Goals within multiple domains were obstructed and unmet needs were identified, namely, assistance navigating isolation, relationship disruptions, career/financial barriers, and access to medical care. Results are limited due to the methodology, as this was not a structured interview. Nonetheless, individual counsel with AYA cancer survivors is recommended to provide resources and address pandemic-induced barriers to health and well-being.

Forum: Gendered Dynamics of Academic Networks

This forum examines whether scholars' access to networks in the international studies profession is gendered and if so, the consequences of those networks for personal and professional success. Academic networks that encompass both professional and personal connections have been proposed as one solution to chilly climate issues because they provide a dual function of enhancing scholarly productivity and inclusion in the profession. The articles in the forum consider both professional (e.g. citation) and personal (e.g. mentorship, friendship) networks, as well as traditional (e.g. invited talks) and nontraditional (e.g. social media) networks. The authors show that biases that arise through the gendered nature of academic networks can be mitigated through social media, mentoring, and friendship networks. However, we must also be cognizant of other factors that create barriers for women in the profession (e.g. university prestige, parenthood, COVID-19). [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Studies Perspectives is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Adolescents' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Do loneliness, family, and online friends matter?

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every element of adolescent life worldwide, including Indonesia. This study intended to examine how adolescents' loneliness and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic are affected by their family relationships and online friendships. This study collects data using an online questionnaire. The Mental Health Continuum-Short Form, the UCLA Loneliness Scale Version 3, the Brief Family Relationship Scale, and the Online Friendship Scale were used to collect the data. Two hundred ninety-two students aged 12-18 participated in data gathering in Jakarta, Indonesia, between March and April 2021. Descriptive, correlation and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses were conducted using SPSS 25.0 and LISREL 8.80. This research revealed that family relationships and online friendships had a negative effect on loneliness. Family relationships favorably impact adolescent mental health, but loneliness negatively impacts it. Furthermore, family relationships and online friendships indirectly affect adolescents' mental health through loneliness. These findings may implement in developing interventions to assist adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.

Panel 19, Number 9, East: In Memoriam to Larry Insel

The author on his first trip to Washington, DC, in 1993, squeezed in a day of sightseeing between his meetings and conferences. When the author came upon the Vietnam War Memorial, he was suddenly seized with the urge to find the name of a long-lost high school friend, Larry. This poem came to him as he sat in the Metro train, making his way back to the hotel outside Baltimore. The author scribbled it on the back of an envelope. The Vietnam Era shaped the author's life. Because of the lottery, the author and his friends struggled to find ways to avoid fighting a war they didn't believe in. Larry's decision to join the armed forces early on stood in contrast to the angst and struggles the rest of our close friends experienced. The author's sense of loss during the Vietnam War years echoes today's COVID-19 era tragedy. Then and now, there are so many losses: not just relatives and friends, but also the loss of a unified voice of comfort in the face of profound polarities, the persistent lack of civility in public discourse, and the uncertainty-and at times terror-that we all collectively face. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Staying connected during stay-at-home: Communication with family and friends and its association with well-being

COVID-19 and the resulting stay-at-home orders issued to reduce the spread of the virus created a novel social situation in which people could not spend in-person time with their family and friends. Thus, emerging technologies like video calling and other forms of mediated communication like voice calling and text messaging became important resources for people to stay in touch. The purpose of this study was threefold. First, we wanted to test whether people would use more mediated communication (video calls, voice calls, text messaging) to stay in touch during the stay-at-home order. Second, we wanted to see if increased mediated communication would be positively associated with well-being. Finally, we explored whether mediated communication was related to age. To answer these questions, we surveyed 2092 participants who answered questions online about how their use of video calls, voice calls, and text messaging and their well-being had changed since the stay-at-home order. Our results show that people increased their use of mediated communication, particularly video calling;and increases in mediated communication with close others, particularly friends, was related to higher levels of well-being. Finally, we found that age was related only to the use of video calling;younger people tended to use more video calling. These findings support the compensatory theory of technology use, that people use technologically mediated communication to maintain contact with their close friends and family when in-person contact is not possible, and that this form of contact, when in-person interaction is unavailable, is associated with positive outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Social and parasocial relationships during COVID-19 social distancing

The COVID-19 pandemic provided an extraordinarily unique opportunity to investigate how sudden, involuntary alterations to social routines influenced not just social relationships, but also parasocial relationships with fictional characters and celebrities. Results from a four-wave panel survey administered during the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 166) revealed that social relationships maintained their stability during social distancing, particularly among participants who increased mediated social engagement with friends and those low in attachment anxiety. Parasocial closeness with media personae increased over time, suggesting that favorite media personae became more meaningful as participants engaged in social distancing. Parasocial closeness increased with greater intensity among participants who increased parasocial engagement, reduced face-to-face social engagement with friends, increased mediated social engagement with friends, and those low in attachment anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of the potential influence of increased mediated social engagement with real-life friends on the parasocial processing of celebrities and fictional characters. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Self-Isolation and Adolescents' Friendship Quality: Moderation of Technology Use for Friendship Maintenance

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the moderating effect of technology use for friendship maintenance in the associations between self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and friendship quality, measured 6 months later (Time 2). Participants were 1,567 seventh and eighth graders (51% female;51% white;Mage = 13.47) from the United States. They completed questionnaires on friendship quality at Time 1, and self-isolation during COVID-19 and technology use for friendship maintenance and friendship quality at Time 2. The findings revealed that self-isolation during COVID-19 was related positively to technology use for friendship maintenance and negatively to Time 2 friendship quality. Higher technology use for friendship maintenance buffered against the negative impacts on friendship quality associated with self-isolation during COVID-19, while lower technology use had the opposite effects on Time 2 friendship quality.

How important is human service for sustainable restaurant businesses?

Purpose: This study focused on human services, which are gradually disappearing from the food service industry owing to rising labor costs and the aftermath of COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: The study used the extended values, beliefs, and norms (VBN) theory to examine the relationship between human service attributes and customers' revisit intention. We analyzed the causal relationships between the human service attributes of "trust," "friendship," and "customization," and customers' perceived values, beliefs, norms, and revisit intention. In addition, multi-group analysis was performed according to the restaurants' menu types. An online survey was conducted in January 2021 with adults aged 18 years or older who visited restaurants that provide human services within the past six months. The final sample included 314 participants. Findings: The human service attributes of "friendship" and "customization" had a positive effect on the perceived value, and the "perceived value" had a positive effect on beliefs. "Beliefs" and "social norms" had positive effects on personal norms, whereas "personal norms" and "social norms" had positive effects on revisit intention. Additionally, restaurants' menu types had a partially moderating effect. The results of this study have implications for the establishment of a successful service environment for restaurants, especially after the COVID-19 public health restrictions were lifted. Originality: This study is among the first ones to use the VBN theory for human services in the casual dining industry. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Generalized Trust Rather than Perception of Relational Mobility Correlates with Nominating Close Friends in a Social Network1

A social environment, such as relational mobility, which represents the availability of opportunities to develop new relationships in society, cultivates an individual's psychology and social network. Generalized trust, which represents trust among people in general, is a tendency to expand individuals' social ties in a fluid society. Using the data of 170 students, we analyzed whether an individual's belief of generalized trust and perception of relational mobility are related to the social network. We conducted a survey to assess psychological measures and social networks under the COVID-19 pandemic for first-year university students. The analyses revealed that generalized trust was significantly associated with the presence of outdegrees (i.e., the nomination of close friends) and the absence of indegrees (i.e., being nominated by others). In contrast, perception of relational mobility was not significantly associated with generalized trust and any social network measures. Behavioral trust, measured using a Trust Game approximately 6 months later, was not significantly associated with network characteristics. The results support the argument that the belief of generalized trust functions as a psychological mechanism to expand individuals' relationships in their social networks. © 2023 Japanese Psychological Association. Published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.