Diversity and demographic characteristics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Diversity and demographic characteristics - Essay Example This paper discusses different demographic and diversity factors that impact individual behavior. A demographic variable that has a great impact on individual behavior is socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status is a measure of an individual or family’s relative economic and social ranking (Nces). Two primary factors that determine socioeconomic status are income and educational level. Higher income positively impacts the well being of people and affects their personal behavior. People in higher income brackets have the opportunity to enjoy activities such as going to fine restaurant, playing golf, vacation to other countries, among other expensive habits on a regular basis. A separation exists between the rich and the poor in a society. The educational attainment of a person opens up opportunities for people. The higher educational level a person achiever the greater the chances of obtaining a high paying job. A person with a high school diploma in the United States earns an average annual salary of $23,400, a figure which is $28,800 lower than college graduates. (Earn mydegree, 2008). Geographical differences cause behavioral discrepancies among the people of region. Two types of geographical differences are rural vs. urban and inner city vs. suburban. Rural life tends to be more passive which allows families to raise their children in a controlled environment. The lifestyle includes working farming agricultural and dairy activities. People typically have large homes with vast amount of land. In the city life is totally different. People are in a constant rush and spend a couple of hours a daily commuting to get from one place to the other. The urban area has higher levels of industrial activity and pollution. In China the population from the rural areas migrates to the urban region in search for employment opportunities that come from manufacturing operations. The second comparison is inner city vs.

Psychology - Self Esteem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Psychology - Self Esteem - Essay Example Materialistic people believe that possessing physical things or property will lead to their satisfaction, content, and happiness. Apparently, studies have found this to be the opposite, such that, with the increase in material wealth, people tend to be unhappier. Caprariello and Reis in their study identified that people who spend more on life-experience events were happier than those acquiring material possessions. Having been identified as two important factors in defining human character, research has also been carried out to identify the correlation between self-esteem and materialism. Some of the findings have identified that there is an inversely proportional relationship between self-esteem and materialism; people with low self-esteem tend to use material possessions to satisfy their self-consciousness and insecurities (Park and Roedder 73–87). People’s self-esteem and need for materialistic possession are the main causes of societal problems. One of the problems associated with individual’s self-esteem and materialistic needs is poor health. As we have identified in earlier statements, individual’s character is mostly defined by their desire to achieve attain happiness, and this can be achieved through high self-esteem or use of material possessions. However, since nothing is perfect in this world, those unable to cope with the realities of life will likely fall victim to various health problems such as anxiety and depression. In a study carried out by Sowislo and Orth, they identified that low self-esteem was strongly related to depression. The results showed that, low self-esteem contributed to depression and depression was found to erode an individual’s self-esteem. The study further identified that low self-esteem was also a determinant for anxiety (Sowislo and Orth 214). People experiencing low self-esteem are known to seek material possessions in order to fulfill their desire for content and