Greetings from the desk of the Editor-in-Chief

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Psychological Research on Urban Society Psychological Research on Urban Society

Volume 1

Number 1 Vol. 1 No. 1 (2018): April 2018 Article 1

4-30-2018

Greetings from the desk of the Editor-in-Chief Greetings from the desk of the Editor-in-Chief

Sri Hartati R. Suradijono

Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Indonesia, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/proust Recommended Citation

Recommended Citation

Suradijono, Sri Hartati R. (2018) "Greetings from the desk of the Editor-in-Chief," Psychological Research on Urban Society: Vol. 1: No. 1, Article 1.

DOI: 10.7454/proust.v1i1.26

Available at: https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/proust/vol1/iss1/1

This Editorial Note is brought to you for free and open access by UI Scholars Hub. It has been accepted for inclusion in Psychological Research on Urban Society by an authorized editor of UI Scholars Hub.

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EDITORIALNOTE

PsychologicalResearchonUrbanSociety April2018|Vol.1|No.1 Psychological Research on Urban Society

2018, Vol. 1(1) 1-2

am pleased to announce our new journal Psychological Research on Urban Society (PRoUSt) published by the Faculty of Psychology Universitas Indonesia. PRoUSt articlesincludeempiricalpapers,policyreviews, case studies, and book reviews related to urban life.

Rapid urbanization is a global phenomenon thatincreasescitiespopulationaroundtheworld.

By2030,itisprojectedthat60%ofthepeoplewill live in urban areas (United Nations, 2016). This leads to the importance of understanding how urban dwelling affects people’s lives regarding mental health and well-being, educational practices,cultures,andemployment.

Inoneofitsmissionstatements,theFacultyof Psychology expresses concern about urban life, namelythatresearchshouldbedevelopedrelated tourban andcross-culturalissues.By publishing PRoUSt,weaimtoliveuptothemission.

Areasofresearch

Urbanizationmayprovidepositiveimpactsinthe form of economic, educational, and cultural opportunities to urban people that nonurban peopledonothave.However,amongotherissues, urbanization also poses negative impacts on the mentalhealth and well-beingofurban dwellers.

Uncovering thepositiveand negativeimpacts of living as urban people is valuable in that researchers and practitioners alike can design interventionstoeasethenegativeimpactsandto enhancethepositiveimpacts.

PRoUSt welcomes articles on urban mental health and well-being, educational and child development in urban society, intergroup relations,acculturationandidentityformationin urbancontexts,urban socialissues(e.g.,poverty, traffic, crime, and violence), urban culture, and

urban issues on employment and organizational behavior.Iencourageauthorstonotonlyfocuson the negative consequences ofurban life but also thepositiveeffects.

Urbanmentalhealth&well-being

Unlikeurbanphysicalhealth,whichisdiscussed inthefieldsofpublichealthandmedicalsciences, researchonurbanmentalhealthandwell-beingis still scarce. Life in a city affects an individual’s attitudesandbehavior,whichaffectstheirmental health and well-being. Thus, psychology and other behavioral sciences have broad opportunities to study urban mental health and well-being. In fact, in the current issue, PRoUSt published twomanuscripts thatdeal withissues related to mental health and well-being among citydwellers.ThefirstarticleisfromKristantiand Poerwandari, who examine premarital sexual complianceamongwomenin Jakarta,Indonesia.

Within the more traditional cultural context, talking openlyabout sexual issues is considered tabooinIndonesia,andpremaritalsexualconduct is not accepted by most people. However, evidencefromtheirstudy showed thisisnotthe caseanymoreincities,especiallyinJakartaandits surroundings.ThesecondarticlefromWulandari andJayaisacomparisonbetweenurbanandnon- urbanresidentsinIndonesiaregardingriskfactors and symptoms of psychosis, depression, and anxiety.

Urbaneducationandchilddevelopment

Urban and nonurban areas are susceptible to education inequality in developing countries.

Factorscontributingtotheinequalityobservedin education are financial disparities, parenting styles,andunequaldistributionofresources.Asa result, children from urban areas have higher

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PsychologicalResearchonUrbanSociety April2018|Vol.1|No.1 academic achievement than children from

nonurban areas. This condition forces urbanization(i.e.,movementfromruraltourban areas) from families wanting a better future for theirchildren.However,livingincitieswithlow levelsofeducation poses newproblems, suchas unemployment and poverty. Parents living in these types of environment are prone to victimization and crime, which negatively impactstheirchildren.

Furthermore,familydissolutionratesandfull- time working parents are common situations in urbanareas.Childrenarethereforesusceptibleto psychological problems, such as anger and betrayal, anxiety, depression, and attachment issues. This may affect their academic performanceatschool.

Urbansocialissues

Livinginurbanareasoftenresultsinsocialissues related to intergroup conflicts and segregation because of the unfair distribution of resources.

Socialrelationshipsinurbanandnonurbanareas arealsodifferentasstrongrelationshipsarefewer incitiesthaninnonurbanareas.

However,povertyisthebiggestsocialissuefor urban dwellers. Often, poor people are concentrated in slum areas in the cities, which worsenthepopulation’squalityoflife.Thereare many conditions related to poverty that are concerning such as diseases caused by poor nutrition and inadequate housing condition, exposuretoviolence,andairandwaterpollutions.

In this first edition, we welcomed articles related to such social issues. For example, two papersarerelatedtofalsememories.Onearticleis by Wang and colleagues and looks at false memory and legal consequences in China—a country that is currently dealing with rapid urbanization. The other article is a review by Romeoandcolleaguesoncopingwithchildsexual abuse and its relationship with memory.

Although the childsexual abuse phenomenon is not exclusive to urban areas, it is a pervasive problemfoundintheurbanpopulation.

Urbanemployment

In general, nonurbanpeople recognizethere are more employment opportunities in urban areas, whichleadstothemigrationofnonurbanpeople tourbanareas.Asaconsequence,themigrationof unskilled laborers may lead to unemployment problemsin the cities,which maylead to higher ratesofpovertyinurbanareas.

Also, the commuting phenomenon is a commonworkconditioninurbanareas,wherein employeesfromsuburbareastraveltoworkinthe cities every workday. Commuting experiences may lead to higher stress that may negatively impact workplace performance and well-being.

Therefore,itmaybeusefultocompareurbanand nonurbanpopulationsregardingworkplacestress and well-being. Commuting also negatively impacttrafficin thecity.Maulinaandcolleagues studied risky riding behavior among motorcyclists in Jakarta and its surroundings, where motorcycles are increasingly used to substituteothermodesoftransportation.

Urban entrepreneurial behavior is also an important and interesting topic that can be discussed in thisjournal. Microentrepreneurship is especially important for a country’s economic growth,andmorethanhalfoftheemploymentin urban areas is in the micro enterprise segment.

PurbaandPaundrapresenteda researchonhow individual factors affect microentrepreneurs’

innovativebehavior.

Closingwords

There are many opportunities for researchers to studyhumanbehaviorinurbanandcross-culture areas. Note the topics I discussed aboveare not exhaustive.Thereareseveralothertopicsrelevant to urban society in the perspective of human behavior other than the ones Idescribed above.

Therefore, I encourage researchers and practitioners studying urban society to submit paperstoourjournal

SriHartatiR.Suradijono Editor-in-Chief