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In this paper examines the effects of low socioeconomic status in adulthood and in childhood on psychological characteristics, such as individual values, self-efficacy, self-esteem, psychological well-being and trust. The sample included people with low socio-economic status (namely poors) (N=162) and non-poor (N=188). Measurement of children’s socio-economic status was carried out by retrospective assessment. The results showed that values and self-esteem differ depending on the adult SES. The results revealed the significant effect of adult and childhood SES for trust and life satisfaction. The analysis revealed that adult status had a significant impact on trust only in the groups of those who did not experience poverty in childhood, i.e. the group with average levels of wealth in childhood, and the wealthy group. In conclusion, our study revealed the impact of childhood and adult SES on various individual psychological characteristics.

With the majority of social-psychological research still being conducted in Western countries, researchers from non-Western countries often adopt existing theories, constructs, and instruments that are not necessarily applicable to the contexts they are interested in. This paper discusses problems that might arise when transferring psychological constructs and instruments from one cultural setting to another. We use the case of a study of group-based guilt and shame in Russia that was carried out by the research team. First, we briefly discuss the original study and the problems we encountered while conducting it. We then analyze the results of eight in-depth semi-structured interviews that followed up the original study. Finally, we conduct a thematic analysis of Facebook commentaries (N=98) that participants left after filling out the original questionnaire. Based on these analyses, we suggest a checklist for researchers who plan to study a psychological construct that wasn’t studied in a given cultural context before. With this paper, we hope to highlight the importance of thorough and comprehensive adaptation of psychological constructs and instruments to new cultural settings.

This paper addresses the issue of adapting the instrument on a “hard-to-survey” sample (poor people). The adaptation consisted of three stages: (1) the translation of scales that have not been previously adapted on a Russian sample, (2) cognitive interviews with people living in poverty, (3) adjusting the questionnaire based on the results of cognitive interviews. We used translation — back translation, as well as committee approach, to translate the scales. Cognitive interviews were conducted using a concurrent probing approach with both scripted and spontaneous probes. In the conclusion, we present the results of reliability analysis and equivalence of measures across the poor (N=162) and non-poor (N=188) samples. Finally, we formulate recommendations for researchers dealing with “hard-to-survey” samples among the poor.

This article is devoted to the analysis of the main theories aimed at the definition and description of the phenomenon of poverty. Up to date, within the framework of psychological studies of the phenomenon of poverty there is no consensus on the definition of poverty and its relationship with different individual and psychological characteristics of personality. The analysis of the literature on the issue helped to allocate four psychological approach to the study of the premises for the emergence and development of the phenomenon of poverty and its possible impact on personality, which focus on the different characteristics of poverty and assert various psychological consequences of poverty for the individual. These approaches include the "culture of poverty", "evolutionary approach to poverty," "situational approach to poverty” and “socio-cognitive theory of a social class". The analysis of these approaches suggests that poverty is a complex and non-homogeneous phenomenon, which manifests a big variety of individual differences. It also highlights the different types of poverty: chronic poverty, short-term poverty, objective and subjective poverty. Further research in this area make it possible to empirically test the hypothesis of the existence of these types of poverty, as well as help to understand in what way each of them interacts with various individual psychological characteristics of personality.

Objectives: This study investigated levels of trust and attributions of blame in connection with a cervical screening programme following a controversy related to the programme's audit, incorporating an experimental test of the effectiveness of new information materials., Design: We compared responses in Ireland (N = 872) to equivalent responses in Scotland (N = 400). Participants in Ireland were randomly assigned to either a treatment group that received the information materials or a control group that did not. Participants then responded to questions about their trust in cervical screening and to whom they would attribute blame in a range of scenarios describing women diagnosed with cervical cancer between screening rounds., Results: Results showed that the control group in Ireland had lower trust and attributed higher blame towards screening services than participants in Scotland. However, exposure to information materials in the treatment group improved trust and reduced blame., Conclusions: The findings suggest that public controversies influence perceptions of screening programmes and underscore the importance of transparent, choice-based communication in mitigating these effects. The findings have valuable implications for screening services worldwide as all screening programmes will have associated false negative and false positive results., (© 2024 The Authors. British Journal of Health Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

Background: Overuse of antimicrobials is a challenging global issue that contributes to antimicrobial resistance. Despite widespread awareness of the problem among members of the medical community and various attempts to improve prescription practices, existing antimicrobial stewardship programmes are not always effective. In our view, this may reflect limited understanding of factors that influence prescription of antimicrobials as empirical therapy, implying a need to address the psychological mechanisms behind some of the specific behaviours involved., Objectives: To identify factors that influence the antimicrobials prescription as empirical therapy, and to relate these factors to findings from behavioural science., Methods: We conducted a scoping review of the literature on the factors underlying antimicrobial prescription decisions, following the protocol designed using PRISMA guidelines., Results and Conclusions: From a final sample of 90 sources, we identified ten factors important in antimicrobial prescription decisions. In the second stage of our analysis, we grouped them into five final categories: (1) nature of the decision, (2) social influences, (3) individual differences, (4) characteristics of the patient, (5) context. We analyse these categories using a behavioural science perspective., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.)

This article aims to extend our understanding of the link between socioeconomic conditions and psychological variables. It focuses on the effects of five distinct socioeconomic indicators on a range of psychological variables in samples of 162 individuals living below the poverty line and 188 of their more well-off counterparts in Russia. Participants completed a questionnaire containing measures of socioeconomic indicators (i.e., income, education, perceived deprivation, subjective socioeconomic status, and childhood socioeconomic status) and psychological variables representing self-regulation, motivation, and well-being. Our main findings include: (a) significant effects of socioeconomic status on all psychological variables, which are in line with other studies seeking to answer similar questions, (b) varying importance of different socioeconomic indicators for different psychological variables, and (c) centrality of all socioeconomic indicators except childhood socioeconomic status, and of values of openness to change and self-transcendence, satisfaction with life and self-esteem in the network of relationships between socioeconomic indicators and psychological variables., (© 2022 International Union of Psychological Science.)

Pepper & Nettle describe possible processes underlying what they call a behavioral constellation of deprivation (BCD). Although we are certain about the application of evolutionary models to our understanding of poverty, we are less certain about the utility of behavioral constellations. The empirical record on poverty-related behaviors is much more divergent and broad than such constellations suggest.