Adolescents' family obligation and activities in rural and urban Vietnam: Implications for social change

Latent profile analyses of disordered eating behaviors and nonsuicidal self-injury among Vietnamese adolescents

OBJECTIVE

Comorbidity of disordered eating (DE) behaviors and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is linked to increased functional impairment. The present study identified subtypes of DE and NSSI comorbidity in a non-Western, low- and middle-income country where there has been particularly little research in this area.

METHOD

Latent profile analyses (LPA) were conducted to identify patterns of subgroup comorbidity in self-reported DE behaviors and NSSI behaviors, in a sample of Vietnamese high-school students (N = 1451, 51% female). Parallel-process LPA was used to predict NSSI subgroup membership from DE subgroup membership.

RESULTS

A seven-class LPA model was identified for DE: (1) Low frequencies of all DE behaviors; (2) Frequent levels of all DE behaviors; (3) Frequent fasting and purging behaviors; (4) Frequent binge eating only; (5) Moderate binge eating; (6) Moderate fasting and purging behaviors; (7) Exercise and fasting. A two-class (high versus low) model was identified for NSSI. Odds of membership in the high-NSSI class were significantly increased for all DE classes except the class characterized by moderate binge eating. Odds of belonging to the high-NSSI class were highest for those in DE classes involving purging behaviors. Males predominated in classes characterized by high behavior dysregulation.

DISCUSSION

DE and NSSI represent important clinical concerns among Vietnamese youth in urban contexts, and males may show particular vulnerability for certain risk behaviors. The association of classes of DE behaviors to NSSI was particularly strong for classes that involved purging, highlighting the importance of this specific behavior for understanding comorbidity of DE and NSSI.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE

Disordered eating and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI; hurting oneself without intending to die) commonly co-occur. There has been less research on disordered eating and NSSI among individuals from non-Western or low/middle-income countries. We examined patterns of these behaviors in a school-based sample of Vietnamese adolescents. We found that patterns of disordered eating distinguished by purging showed particular links to NSSI, which could have implications for screening and treatment.

Why do many parents expect more help from their children during COVID-19? A qualitative follow-up to quantitative survey data

Quantitative analysis in this special issue (Greenfield, Brown, & Du, 2021) showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has led most parents to report greater expectations for their children to help with family subsistence. This familistic development exemplifies the shifts in behavior and values predicted by Greenfield's Theory of Social Change, Cultural Evolution, and Human Development when survival concerns rise and the social world retracts. Here, we use qualitative analysis to uncover the psychological processes behind the quantitative shift. Our California sample consisted of 109 parents with at least one child between age 7 and 18 living at home during the pandemic when they answered the survey. Forty-six of these parents provided qualitative data concerning expectations for their children's household responsibilities during COVID-19. An open-ended question asked parents to explain why their expectations of their children to help around the house and to carry out self-maintenance had changed or remained the same. Prominent themes in the qualitative responses manifest a shift from a mindset found in a large-scale urban society toward that found in a small-scale subsistence community: Before the pandemic, parents focused on increasing their children's competitiveness in society through extracurricular activities like tutoring, but that transitioned into a focus on household duties such as cooking and cleaning. In some cases, this shift was linked to an increase in life satisfaction; in other cases, it was linked to a decline in life satisfaction.

Shifts in ecology, behavior, values, and relationships during the coronavirus pandemic: Survival threat, subsistence activities, conservation of resources, and interdependent families

What are the psychological effects of the coronavirus pandemic? Greenfield's Theory of Social Change, Cultural Evolution, and Human Development predicts that when survival concerns augment, and one's social world narrows toward the family household. life shifts towards activities, values, relationships, and parenting expectations typical of small-scale rural subsistence environments with low life expectancy. Specific predictions were that, during the pandemic, respondents would report intensified survival concerns (e.g., thinking about one's own mortality); increased subsistence activities (e.g., growing food); augmented subsistence values (e.g., conserving resources); more interdependent family relationships (e.g., members helping each other obtain food); and parents expecting children to contribute more to family maintenance (e.g., by cooking for the family). All hypotheses were confirmed with a large-scale survey in California (N = 1,137) administered after about a month of stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic; results replicated in Rhode Island (N = 955). We posited that an experience of increased survival concerns and number of days spent observing stay-at-home orders would predict these shifts. A structural equation model confirmed this hypothesis.