Rolling Along

In earlier blogs I introduced the idea of the Rolling, Rolling, Rolling Effect. In my future research I wish to describe two aspects that I believe add to this effect; which I believe is the main cause of people remaining in poverty. In This attempt I realize that many theories and phenomena will be able to shed valuable light on the topic; however, I will have to limit it to the ideas that only apply directly to the two phenomena that I will be looking at, which are obesity and a poor education system.

To commence our journey I would like to state that in 2008 about 30 percent of Americans were Obese. According to to American Heart Association it has now raised to almost 34 percent. According to my math, at this rate by 2020 America will have over 50 percent of it's residents living in obesity.

Obesity Stats in America 

Obesity has also been studied in other countries. In Canada researchers found that adolescents were 28% more likely to make poorer food choices when they came from lower education communities. Also in Australia and England researchers found that children from more privileged areas made better choices to eat healthier foods (Black 2008).

As Psychologists look at obesity they have identified that poverty rates, high school graduation rates, uninsured residents, single parent households, per capita healthcare spending, per capita income, number of doctors, number of hospitals, infant mortality rates, and teenage pregnancy rates were factors that had a positive correlation to obesity (Menifield 2008). Looking at these factors, I feel we can get a better idea of the underlying problem. I believe that the problem comes from a lack of diligence to the highest standards of education. Studies have also shown that the two biggest factors of obesity are diet and exercise. As children, in school and in home, we either learn to be diligent in our responsibilities or to be disobedient to them. I believe that this also relates to self-control. When we practice diligence of self-control, we strengthen our resolve to complete tasks and/or abstain from behavior that will be our demise.

Two interesting study's shed light on child development. The first looks at a biological aspect, and the second a more psychological approach. In a study done by Belinda Needham (2012) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she found that the length of a Leukocyte Telomere, a segment of DNA that grows with age, is consistently longer in children in low SES communities. Specifically she found that children with parents that had low education levels (high school grad or lower) had Leukocyte Telomere length that resembled those of children about 6 years older (Needham 2012). furthermore, this problem, of having older cells indicated by the lengthened Teolmeres, has been shown to increase further problems in life such as heart disease and diabetes. Also, make note that that Obesity is the number one cause of heart disease and diabetes.

The study done by Bradley (2002) showed that stressful situations were more prevalent in low SES families. This supports the data given by Telomere length study because it showed that stressful circumstance, either by the parents or children, caused the aging of the cell which caused the lengthening of Leukocyte Telomeres.

Finally, We see that there are a variety of factors that affect the Rolling, Rolling, Rolling Effect. Not a one will be able to give a complete response to this effect. However, by taking a multidisciplinary perspective, Light will be able to be shed on the topic and new Ideas of how to better the community and help people escape the trap of poverty, we will be able to some problems that disciplinarians could only dream of solving!  



Black, J., & Macinko, J. (2008). Neighborhoods and obesity. Nutrition Reviews, 66(1), 2-20.

Bradley, R. F. (2002). SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT. Annual Review Of Psychology, 53(1), 371

Menifield, C., Doty, N., & Fletcher, A. (2008). Obesity in America. ABNF Journal, 19(3), 83-88

Needham, B. L., Fernandez, J. R., Lin, J., Epel, E. S., & Blackburn, E. H. (2012). Socioeconomic status and cell aging in children. Social Science & Medicine, 74(12), 1948-1951

Leadership = Responsibility

Sampson outlines six domains of key leaders or informants that are involved in the higher order structure of the community. As I look at those six components I find one troubling correlation between religion and politics. As I reflect upon what the Catholic, Jewish, Protestant and Islamic religions teach, I think about doing good to those around you by serving them. Never have I ever encountered anyone from any of these good religions that taught hatred and revenge are good or wholesome, but what do we see in the community of politics too often? we see that people lie and deceive to get gain, many times at the expense of the people they represent. I am certain that if politicians would think about the people they serve and forget their selfish desires, many of the problems would be resolved.

I have found that when problems do get solved it is because of a joint effort between multiple parties that have different expertise. I have personally seen problems at Dixie State College be resolved because those in power were able to collaborate with others and reach a solution. This Problem solving method I think you be beneficial to any problem that any community would face. Pay close attention to the second step because it asks to identify people that could help solve the problem.

The other idea that I would like to look at is the Idea of how differing views affect decision making choices. As most of us understand people with the same likes, ideas and social standing tend to congregate with others of their same ideals. Looking at this, we can understand why neighborhoods are the way they are. As people gather and make friends their cliche becomes more powerful because they increase the input received to solve problems. Where I am going with this is that people in influence tend to work with those in influence and unfortunately many of the the poverty stricken people do not have the means or money to become influential. So we see different views are caused by the social clique and the clique is determined by influence and monetary power one posses. 

I Agree with Sampson that this chapter deserves a whole book. I feel that the idea of leadership and elite connections is a concept that many people use, but fail to utilize it to the fullest effect, and that there are so many aspects to explore that it will never be used to it's fullest potential. I would like to look at one final aspect that could potentially change the spectrum of elite leaders. Education I feel is always an underlying factor when it come to success of future generation. I feel that out of all the strongest ties between the six key domains, education should be the strongest. What I found is that it had some of the weakest ties to the other five domains. Because of this phenomenon, many education systems will continue to fail and not meet the standards of society. So often we find that only real world experience prepares us for the future! I Believe this is true; however, the education system, if combined with all of the other five domains, would prepare students for the real world. I feel that selfishness is to blame because people do not feel comfortable to go out and make the ties in the communities, leaving the students at mercy of teachers that teach from a text book rather than the book of life experience. 

Look at this last video and you will see that at first many ideas we presented to solve the problem, but because of a common goal they were able to overcome their differences and reach a solution. Also notice a line where the leader states "We do not care what it was designed to do, we only care what it can do." Many time people look at the limitations rather than see the possibilities. If leaders will look at the possibilities rather than the limitations to a system, many of today's problems would be solved and the Rolling, Rolling, Rolling effect would begin to diminish!    

 

ROLLING, ROLLING, ROLLING!!!!

Sampson is a Social Psychologist that studies the factors of human motility. He finds that several different factors attribute to motility in Chicago. I agree with all he states, but  I would also like to discuss a few factors he mentioned but failed to elaborate on. First, for many underprivileged and low income families the idea of escaping the ghetto is a dream that they realize they may never achieve; However, for their children they may believe that by proper schooling and more opportunities their children may be able to escape the deathly hold of impoverishment and despair. For many people the idea of a better education for their children is enough to move.

Another reason people leave the ghetto ix because of the promise of a better future. As we talked about in previous chapters, people of a community contribute to collective efficacy. As people contribute to this collective efficacy, they become more and more knowledgeable about their surroundings. This knowledge effectively shapes the attitudes and opinions of people in that community. As these opinions degenerate into fear and anxiety about the safety and security of the community, this will make people look for an escape. This escape may also be triggered by a single traumatic experience. Included in the escape is not only leaving that neighborhood but also leaving any association or bad experience behind. As they move into the new neighborhood, they forget many of the past experiences. As people forget about the past they are condemned to repeat it causing a even greater degeneration in the new community. I believe that failure to look at past problems is one of the reasons collective efficacy is diminishing and gap between the poor in the ghetto and the wealthier in the suburbs.  

Looking at this problem from a biological stand point one phrase comes to mind,"Survival of the Fittest." as neighborhoods collapse into a crime infested swamp, only the hardened will be able to withstand the changes. Sampson showed that inner-city mobility caused a decrease in household income. I believe that this is due to lower collective efficacy and tolerance. I have already addressed collective efficacy in the previous paragraph however, tolerance for crime is increasing because the people are becoming hardened and crime is the norm rather than the exception. Thus we see that people that endure hardships become hardened to crime so that makes them more likely to be able to find mates and reproduce.

I would like to make one final remark about a very select few that escape the ghetto and make it big in what ever occupation they pursue. Some people do become very successful movie stars, sports players, politicians or businessmen and women. As people realize their talents they take advantage of them and this enables them to move up in their field of occupation.    

looking at these three situations that could be present I feel we could narrow down the answer, to the question why people move, to two responses. First, people move because of the promise of a better future or second, in response to a negative situation. One may look at the second and say if one is in a negative situation leaving it would be the promise of a better future. I argue that they are different because many people plan on living in the ghetto their entire life and realize that they will probably never leave. In this case they are not moving into a better community they are only escaping that traumatic experience. 

As people fall into the rut of poverty and cannot escape I call it the Rolling, Rolling, Rolling Effect. 

Community Health

As I read and evaluated articles that related to my two emphases, biology and psychology, I discovered that there are a wide range of issues that can relate to community. I have already displayed the role of genetic disposition in determining social altruism. I have also talked about different heuristics that psychologists use in showing trends in collective efficacy. Another fact is that Sampson himself is a social psychologist and is using his work in Chicago to better understand social order and how to fix social problems. I believe that almost any aspect of community could fit into either the field of psychology or biology in a round about way. Thus the challenge is to discover what phenomenon of community life are best described by which emphasis area, keeping in mind that different theories in multiple disciplines will shed light onto the subject.

While studying biology I have noticed the growing epidemic of obesity. As I look around I see millions of Americans attending the millions of Burger Doodles (the sum total of all fast food burger joints) all across the world. As Obesity rises, all the negative consequences such as hypertension, high cholesterol and type two diabetes rise with it. Problems that were once very rare are now more common than ever before. Two articles I found are addressing the problem of obesity. First, as the government is trying to gain awareness of the potential harm  obtained at Burger Doodle, they have established the idea of making on Online Health-Promoting Community or OHPC. With the establishment of these OHPC's, we have found that almost all the needs of the users can be met by opening forums where people can ask questions and answers will be given by following guidelines. Another study found that many people are open to testing to discover problems that have been caused by Burger Doodle with the top disorders being hypertension, diabetes, cancer, obesity and heart problems. If people are willing to engage in such studies, then we should have data recorder to show trends in these communities.

On the other spectrum of psychology, we find that many of the same biological trends that are happening in communities are co-existing with many psychological problems. People that live in remote places tend to avoid getting help with the problem.. A study done in Australia found that the more serious the problem and  the further one might have to travel to obtain help, the less likely to receive help. On the other hand the closer the person to a major metropolitan area, the more likely he or she would seek attention. Another study showed that substance abuse and mental health problems put disadvantaged communities at a greater risk for being infected by disease in South Africa. Even though this study was done in south Africa, the results have been shown to be valid in America.

As we look at these different problems in the communities I believe that we will find shocking trends. In some cultures certain practices have become normal such as the American tradition of eating at Burger Doodle because we have become lazy and wan to take the easy way around things. As we become more complacent with our habits, we will find not only health problems in our communities but mental health problems. It has been proven that physical exercises stimulates the brain, so as Burger Doodle becomes more popular, exercise will become less popular resulting in the decline of overall community health!


REFERENCES

Cottler, L. B., McCloskey, D., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Bennett, N. M., Strelnick, H., Dwyer-White, M., & ... Evanoff, B. (2013). Community Needs, Concerns, and Perceptions About Health Research: Findings From the Clinical and Translational Science Award Sentinel Network. American Journal Of Public Health, 103(4), 717-726.

Ekberg, J., Timpka, T., Angbratt, M., Frank, L., Norn, A., Hedin, L., & ... Gre, B. (2013). Design of an online health-promoting community: negotiating user community needs with public health goals and service capabilities. BMC Health Services Research, 13(1), 258-263

Havenaar, J. M., Geerlings, M. I., Vivian, L., Collinson, M., & Robertson, B. (2008). Common mental health problems in historically disadvantaged urban and rural communities in South Africa: prevalence and risk factors. Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 43(3), 209-215

Perkins, D., Fuller, J., Kelly, B. J., Lewin, T. J., Fitzgerald, M., Coleman, C., & ... Buss, R. (2013). Factors associated with reported service use for mental health problems by residents of rural and remote communities: cross-sectional findings from a baseline survey. BMC Health Services Research, 13(1), 1-13.
 

Good Communities

According to Sampson, community well-being is attributed to high collective efficacy and altruistic character but low personal cynicism. In another article by Sampson published in 2013 he states that when disaster strikes, the sociable people with ties to their community are the survivors of the calamity.

In another study done by J Andre and O. Morin (2011) They explore the idea that Altruistic Character is an evolutionary trait and we altruism is shown to a non-kin it is a male-adaptive byproduct of imitation. I understand their reasoning because they believe that altruism is a defense utilized to protect the family and defend any unwanted violations of family pride. However, as I stated in the previous paragraph, studies have shown that social altruism is highly correlated to survival through devastating events.

However scientists may try to study the phenomenon of Social Altruism I believe that there is a genetic predisposition to do good. I believe that all men are created equally good and through agency they choose to live a selfish, self-centered, altruistic life. I believe there may be genes that can influence Social Altruism and in turn that will also affect social efficacy, but people are free to choose to be acted upon or to act on.

Finally In another study done by Steele et al. (2008), they found that people with higher altruistic behavior were more likely to donate blood because of a sense of  duty to help others. As we see, Sampson's work is highly supported by evidence that good communities have a higher lever of social altruism.



REFERENCES

ANDRÉ, J. B., & MORIN, O. O. (2011). Questioning the cultural evolution of altruism. Journal Of Evolutionary Biology, 24(12), 2531-2542

Sampson, R. (2013). Survival of the sociable. New Scientist, 218(2916), 28-29.

Steele, W., Schreiber, G. B., Guiltinan, A., Nass, C., Glynn, S. A., Wright, D. J., & ... Garratty, G. (2008). The role of altruistic behavior, empathetic concern, and social responsibility motivation in blood donation behavior. Transfusion, 48(1), 43-54

How Well do you Agree with your Neighbors?

Collective Efficacy, A complex term used to describe the willingness one possesses to help protect the well-being of others. I feel this principle boils down to one idea. The golden rule, do unto other as you would have them do unto you. If people would live by this one rule, the majority of societies problems would vanish overnight! Because of greed, selfishness, pride and hostility, core values that we teach our children, collective efficacy dissipates and society downgrades into the horrendous situation we find ourselves today.

Sampson Hypothesis that collective efficacy is defined as the social cohesion among neighbors combined with their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good. Through extremely detailed and precise research he shows strong correlation to a strong collective efficacy and reduced homicide per capita in the 77 districts of Chicago. One distinction that Sampson makes clear is the difference between collective efficacy and "dense social networks" I agree with him that people have their social networks and the bigger picture is collective efficacy. I also believe that people have an innate desire to trust others but because to situations they lack the motivation to make their neighbors part of their social network. People need to understand why collective efficacy will benefit them and as discussed in later chapters, meetings need to be held in order to build this collective efficacy.

In my community I know that if I see shady activity I publish it to everyone that may be affected. Having been a part of a military community, I understand what it means to know every neighbor on the block by name and occupation. If anything would have happened in that community news would have traveled like a brush fire and a plan to stop it from happening again would be implemented almost immediately! If communities would respond to crime in the manner that a military community would have, domestic violence, the most common crime in low-income neighborhoods, would be eliminated.

Studying the article Collective Efficacy Beliefs:Theoretical Developments, Empirical Evidence, and Future Directions, I found that collective efficacy is essential to the cohesion of schools. In the classroom evidence suggests that higher social efficacy leads to higher grades and healthier students. While looking at the success of students we can follow a logical path of thought. If social efficacy is high then self-esteem will be healthy and bullying in the classroom will be lessened leading to a healthier learning environment. Finally, if we have a productive learning environment, students will realize the importance of education, continue on to college and crime rates will be reduced.

I recently read an article that hypothesized that mean girls come from mean moms. If the golden rule is followed, nice will be the new cool and the places like Chicago And St. George will blossom into a community where all citizens share a collective efficacy!

Access to Sage Journals is required for access
Collective Efficacy Beliefs:Theoretical Developments, Empirical Evidence, and Future Directions
http://edr.sagepub.com.libproxy.dixie.edu/content/33/3/3.full.pdf+html

Social Order

As stated by Sampson "Shared perceptions of disorder rather that systematically observed disorder appear to be a mechanism of durable inequality." Evaluating this statement I come to the idea that misconceptions and false belief lead communities to have beliefs and biases that are in many cases not true.

The opposite of disorder is order. As we look at the effects of Social disorder, it would be wise to also evaluate the causes of social order. In the article Symbols of Incivility - Social Disorder and Fear of Crime in Urban Neighborhoods, Albert Hunter explains that wholesome public interaction is the key to maintaining social order. He shows that as hostility, insensitivity and aggression brings social disorder. He also explains that many situations are interpreted incorrectly. For example, a group of boys standing on the corner could be interpreted as being mischievous or as preparing for a friendly game of street basket ball. If people were looking to find problems it would be easy to justify the first interpretation, however; is the citizen know the boys, he or she may realize that these boys mean to break no windows in the community.

Recently I visited a small community in the San Pete county. Because the election for mayor is relatively close I asked some of the citizens how they felt about the state of the city and the potential for building a better community. I felt that many of the citizens only wanted answers to their questions. They stated that many of their questions went without the slightest acknowledgement to the mayor and the city council. While investigating further I found that only one person on the city council stood up to the mayor and asked why? The biggest question that went unanswered was why a certain part of the city was better maintained that other parts of the city. A psychologist would look at this situation and try to determine why people are asking questions and what their internal motives are for those who are withholding proper explanation. The

looking at this situation, I envision how communities begin to be segregated. As questions go unanswered, citizens look to find fault with those around them, this leads to hostility and aggression which causes Social disorder. The vicious cycle of finding fault with each other has just begun and who is to blame? I blame the leaders that denied the citizens answers to their questions.

Abraham Lincoln stated "You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." I believe that these leaders will be held responsible and will be punished according to the crime.



Feel free to read the report by Albert Hunter at
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/82421.pdf