In South Carolina, a grieving mother who lost her son to suicide gives out stickers to young people. The sticker has the words “Jackson Matters and So Do You”.important to others matter— is not just a truism. “You Matter” is the catchphrase for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. And the phrase “Black Lives Matter” has caught our attention. exclusive racism More than 1 in 8 Americans are exposed.
Over the past three decades, psychologists have formalized “mattering” into psychological constructs that uniquely predict depression, suicidal ideation, or other mental illnesses. It also heralds physical resilience in the elderly.
From a psychological point of view, there is a growing consensus that the problem stands on its own. The Psychology of Mattering: Understanding the Human Need for Matter (2018). Overlapping matter self-respect, social support and a sense of belonging, he says, are not identical. And that goal can be achieved through years of therapy. “People can learn to relate to others in ways that develop a sense of their own importance,” he says.
In 1981, sociologist Morris Rosenberg created a five-item question scale that included questions such as “How dependent are other people on you?” and “How much will I miss you when I’m gone?” Rosenberg, famous for the widely used Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, wasn’t the one who ultimately tested the measure. In the early 1990s, over a beer at the annual meeting, Rosenberg suggested to sociologist R. Jay he Turner that the planned large-scale Toronto he community survey should include a significant scale. did. In 1997, Turner suggested to his student John Taylor (now a sociologist at Florida State University) to analyze the survey’s key data for his doctoral dissertation. As intuitive as the scale was to him, says Taylor.However, after a 2001 study, he found that Implemented on important matters, lingering doubts disappeared. “Mattering makes a unique contribution,” says Taylor. “It’s different from self-esteem, social support, and other factors. It’s an important part of your self-concept.”
Mattering measurement
The scale for assessing problems doubled in the years that followed. In addition to Flett’s Anti-Mattering Scale (which includes items such as “To what extent were you made to feel invisible?”) and the Work Mattering Scale developed by Jung Ae Kyung and Mary J. Heppner At the University of Missouri, scientists are now able to measure your importance to family, college, and the larger community and society—one scale can accommodate your romantic partner, too.
Mattering is defined as consisting of three components. Brown University sociologist Gregory Elliott describes them this way:
Awareness: Do people pay attention to you or walk by you?
Importance: Is there someone who really cares about your well-being?
reliance: Do people come to you for help, support, or advice?
A sense of importance (or insignificance) begins in childhood. “Parental neglect is destructive because it sends a message to children who are made to feel irrelevant, invisible, and insignificant,” Frett said. I’m here.
For teenagers, the lack of problems can be very destructive. In his landmark 2009 study of 2,000 young people, Elliott found: As teenagers feel less important in the family, increased antisocial, aggressive, or self-destructive behavior. Conversely, if you believe that you are important to your family, you are less likely to get lost. Robin Kowalski, a psychologist at Clemson University, codes his teens’ posts on Reddit’s “Suicide Watch” page. “About half felt they weren’t a problem,” she said, citing her posts like “I just want to be a problem” and “No one cares about me.” Did.”
Taylor’s 2001 study linked the problem to mental health. In a 2018 study, he went further, Correlation with physical healthHe and his colleagues Michael McFarland and Dawn Carr conducted in-depth psychological interviews of 1,026 Tennesseans between the ages of 22 and 69, followed by blood pressure, cortisol levels, and lower back pain. A series of physiological measurements, such as waist ratio, were taken. Those who did not experience a strong sense of this found that the allostatic load was significantly greater. “Even small changes in problems are stronger predictors of physical and mental health than social support,” he says. “Mattering is a cleaner vehicle,” he says. “It only captures the positive effects of intimate personal connections.”
school, workplace, community, society
Isaac Prilertenski, a community psychologist at the University of Miami, says we understand our importance not only from our personal relationships, but also from our work and our communities. Prilleltensky created his own scale to measure this extended measure.in him Mattering in Domains of Life Scale (MIDLS), people rate the degree to which they feel “worthy, recognized, and appreciated” and the sense of their contribution to others. These feelings relate to his four areas: self, relationships, work (paid or unpaid), and community.
Prilertensky takes those elements and An image of a wheel with “substance” at the center“Feeling Value” and “Adding Value” form a semi-circle around the target, with the outer circle replicating four domains for each “value” category of the adjacent inner ring. The goal, he writes, is to create “a virtuous circle where the benefits of feeling value lead to added value.” The more important others make you feel, the more likely you are to contribute to them and gain their attention and appreciation.
Important scales are beginning to emerge in the workplace.Survey of nurse burnout National survey, Julie Heislip, a professor of nursing and pediatrician at the University of Virginia (UVA), and her colleagues found that nurses who reported higher levels of problems with their patients and colleagues had less burnout. “Healthcare seems to focus more on interpersonal relationships than on organizations. Problems arise in small moments,” says Heislip. It may involve holding a frightened patient’s hand or knowing which sandwich the colleague who ordered lunch liked.
In a current study of nursing and medical students at UVA and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Hyslip found that instilling a sense of importance was as easy as remembering a student’s name during a rotation. I learned. .
The importance of cherishing varies by gender. When questioned by researchers, Taylor said women “almost universally” report higher levels of problems in relationships, and this is true from the 1990s to today, even through changes in women’s roles. Both men and women derive a sense of importance from intimate relationships, but women do more than men from their roles as parents and close friends, according to a recent report. study By Baylor University sociologists Rebecca Bonhag and Paul Froese.
Studies have found that men’s sense of importance stems from their perceived status and social class within the wider community, as well as their group membership. For example, giving to local organizations is associated with being important to men, but less important to women. One interesting finding was that the man who identified strongly as a Republican and was active on his social media had a stronger sense of importance. The same link was not found for men who were independents or Democrats. It’s hard to say for sure what causes it, but Bonhag speculates that men who lose their sense of what matters will develop a strong partisan spirit. If so, “it’s going to be a troubling trend,” she says. She suggests that it may be useful for
problem, suicide, murder
Indifference to other people is associated with suicidal and homicidal thoughts. Some scholars attribute at least some of the mass shootings to such deficits. The 2007 Virginia Tech shooter left a chilling manifesto. Elliott paraphrases, “Nobody recognizes who I am, so I have to show that I matter.” A 2003 survey found that The writings of 10 mass shootersAccording to Frett, the consistent theme can be summarized as follows.
As the concept of importance gets more attention, it is incorporated into mental health interventions.The You Matter Lifeline is one key example. Calling 988 paves the way for suicidal people to feel that someone is listening and that they are a problem for others.
At McMaster University, psychology researcher Christine Wekerle and her colleagues are testing JoyPop, a phone app that helps young people enhance their vital senses. Understand your mood, distract yourself from negative thoughts, and guide you to connect socially. All of these features “increase your sense of being important because you’re doing something positive for yourself,” she says.
Pioneers in some communities have focused on the importance of what matters to young people. Her Kini-Ana Tinkham, director of the Maine Resilience Building Network, points to her 2021 Integrated Health Survey for Maine. It found that 51% of her high school students and 45% of middle school students consider themselves unimportant in the area where they live. In response, the state has launched a significant awareness-raising initiative.
One librarian noticed teens smoking e-cigarettes in an empty lot after school and enlisted them to turn a storeroom into their own hangout. A local outdoor program, Teens to Trails, created a teenage advisory board and says, “We can’t make decisions about you without you.” Executive Director Alicia Heyburn. By recognizing the opportunity to participate in activities and have a say in decision-making, researchers found that: Growing awareness of the importance of junior high school students Located in two rural school districts in Michigan.
simply aware Children make a difference, according to Tinkham of Maine. how are you? ” Many interventions occur spontaneously without an agency as an intermediary. Youth can join churches and leadership groups to do volunteer work. Helping others is important. Some older people socially connected on Facebook research As I interact with others on the site, I feel how important I am to them.
For children who are neglected or abused, interventions may involve trusted adults who provide care and attention, such as relatives, teachers, and coaches. Some clinical reports acknowledge that establishing a sense of significance can involve great upheaval in life, but establishing it is by no means an impossible goal. When they become important, they can’t think, ‘I’m not important to anyone,'” Frett says.
if you need help
If you or someone you know is struggling or considering suicide, help is available. Call 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 and use online lifeline chat Or contact the Crisis Text Line by sending a TALK to 741741.
