The American Dream-the perception that upward social mobility depends on effort-is a central cultural ethos in the United States. The belief in upward social mobility is not unique to Americans, and cultural groups across the world endorse it to varying degrees. The current study aims to examine cross-cultural trends in perceived mobility and to test possible mechanisms that may explain changes in perceived mobility. Using a dataset of over 1.4 million participants across 167 countries from 2005 to 2019, we comprehensively document cultural variations in perceived mobility. Citizens in Bhutan, Qatar, and Uzbekistan reported the highest levels of perceived mobility, and the United States ranked 107. We further examined the trajectories of perceived mobility across a 15-year timespan and found rapid declines in perceived mobility in countries experiencing sociopolitical crises (e.g., in Syria and Hong Kong). Multilevel analyses revealed high-income individuals are 32% (95% confidence interval, CI [24%, 39%]) more likely to perceive mobility than low-income individuals, and the level of disparity did not decrease over time. Preregistered time-series analyses showed education privatization and economic condition Granger-cause perceived mobility, but these temporal associations showed heterogeneity across countries. Overall, we performed the world's largest global monitor of perceived mobility and discussed how the cultural value of perceived mobility unfolds in social, economic, and political contexts.
Background
Little is known about patients’ understanding of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). This paper aims to develop and validate the Scoliosis Misconception Scale (SMS) and to explore patients’ level of misconception about AIS.
Methods
A total of 195 patients who were newly referred with newly diagnosed AIS were recruited to assess their levels of misconception and psychological distress before and after their first consultation with a specialist. The 17-item SMS was administered to assess patients’ level of misconception about AIS and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was used to measure their level of distress.
Results
According to the Item Response Theory, all items were within the acceptable range from -3.69 to 2.39 for difficulty parameters, which determined the difficulty of the scale, while most of the items were within the acceptable range from 0.11 to 1.54 for the discrimination parameters, which determined the rate at which the probability of endorsing a correct item changes given ability levels. Internal consistency by marginal reliability was 0.66. One-sample t test revealed that participants on average scored 6.79 (SD = 2.12) before the first clinic session and 6.45 (SD = 2.51) after the first clinic session, both significantly higher than 0 [t(75) = 27.86, p < .001; t(75) = 22.43, p < .001].
Conclusions
Despite a longstanding clinical model that functions well to treat AIS, most patients still have significant misconceptions about the condition. This highlights the necessity to assess patients’ knowledge level of a medical condition and potential generalisability of misconception–distress link to the forefront across other illnesses.
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