Perceived Discrimination and Happiness Among Tribal Unmarried Mothers

The Psychology of Well-Being in the Margins: Voices from and Prospects for South Asia and Southeast Asia

“…The latter set of studies do not explicit focus on the economic status of the participants in their study, but their social context indicates that the some of the jobs involved are taken by persons from lower socioeconomic groups. We also see intersectionalities in the marginalization of women, where in three studies, the disadvantages of women also relate to caste (Johri & Anand, 2022) or stigmas associated with their marital status (Mendez, 2022;Thasleema & Rajan, 2022) and also socioeconomic status (Thasleema & Rajan, 2022). The other two studies in this special issue relate to some aspect of physical disabilities-one relating to experience of deaf people (Lee et al, 2022) and another on experiences of caregivers of family members with spinal cord injury (Biclar et al, 2022).…”

“…Thus, it is important to view the adaptive dimension of well-being processes as one that deals with different intersecting challenges. For example, the tribal unmarried mothers had to deal with stigma associated with their unmarried motherhood status, and the stigma was stronger among those from lower socioeconomic groups (Thasleema & Rajan, 2022 ); the latter also must cope with the more difficult financial situation as they try to raise their children. The hospitality workers who must adapt to the challenges of their low status occupations (Aboobaker, 2002 ) also have to cope with how the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed their industry while also dealing with the very real fears of being infected.…”

“…However, some of the studies in the special issue show how the theories are adapted and modified to consider the specific life circumstances and contexts of the marginalized target participants. We see this approach in the adaptation of the “need-to-belong” theory (Baumeister & Leary, 1995 ) to study the deaf persons in Ipoh (Lee et al, 2022 ), the job-demands-resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007 ) to study workplace well-being among hospitality industry workers (Aboobakr, 2022 ), the system justification theory (Jost, 2019 ) in the study of tribal married mothers (Thasleema & Rajan, 2022 ), and in the use of a cultural adaptation of hope theory (Bernardo, 2010 ) in studying persons who experienced economic challenges in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic (Tee et al, 2022 ). We believe that such adaptations are positive steps forward as they introduce theoretical elaborations of the established models.…”