sandhya rani p j urban commuters jssw april 2013

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Journal of SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK April 2013Journal of SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK April 2013

ISSN: 0976-3759 ISSN: 0976-3759


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ISSN: 0976-3759 ISSN: 0976-3759

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A National School Social Work monthly dedicated to networking of parents and teachers.

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Journal of

School Social Work

Note: Views expressed by the contributors are not necessarily

the official view of the Journal.

Journal of School Social Work,8 (New 14), Sridevi Colony,

Seventh Avenue, Ashok Nagar,

Chennai 600083

Mobile:

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Focus: Pattern Recognition

Honorary Special Editor:

Dr Rajendrakumar, Chairperson,

Department of Social Work,

Bangalore University, Jnana Bharathi Campus,

Bangalore

C o n t e n t sVolume IX Issue 11 A p r i l 2 0 1 3 Page

Editorial Prof Visvesvaran P K 02

Patterns of Power Struggle and

Remedy at Hand Dr Vijayalakshmi V 03

Pattern Recognition: A Challenge before

Parents Prof Visvesvaran P K 11

Typical Relationship Patterns in Families Naidu P J 13

Concept Paper on Control Vs. Autunomy 17

Casework Intervention for the Hearing ImpairedDr Sinu E 19

Changing Patterns in Daily Routine among

Urban Commuters Sandhya Rani P J

Nafisa Khan and Dr Charumathi P J 27

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ISSN: 0976-3759 ISSN: 0976-3759

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Editorial

Ruth Benedict in her

anthropological masterpiece

Patterns of Culture identifies the

modal personalities in different

societies. The typical Dobuan

suffers from chronic anxiety, hostility

and paranoia. His gods are hostile

beings and all social relationships are

characterized by deliberate fraud,

treachery and double-dealings. On

the other hand, the average Zuni is

friendly, co-operative and peace-

loving. That is because his deities

are benevolent and his culture

encourages peaceful resolution of all

conflicts. Erich Fromm refers to the

Manus who are highly competitiveand drive themselves to despair and

death pushed to the brink by intense

rivalry towards one another.

Identification of patterns is, thus, very

important for human beings to

understand one another. To adapt

Swithun Bowers (who uses the

following phraseology to define

social work) pattern detection is an

art, based on the knowledge of thescience of human relations. One

should have some knowledge of the

Freudian theory, the behavioural

approach and the modern schools of

treatment such as the client-centered

Rogerian therapy to discern typical

patterns of behaviour in our clients.

Identification is, however, only the

first step and is not a solution by itself.

Also, any diagnosis is only tentative

and the therapist should have an

open mind to revise his views as he

goes along and as new facts come

up.

A corollary to this is the fact that

symptoms are a mixed bag and not

a holdall. For example, a person

may exhibit symptoms of anxiety,

depression and obsessive-

compulsion all rolled into one. Any

attempt to put it in anyone particular

pigeon hole may fail.

More important than this is the

need to avoid labeling, either thesymptom or the client. For example,

the childs enuresis may belong to

the revenge type (punishing the

parents) or regressive type (arising

from sibling rivalry) or may represent

both, usually the last. Let not the

therapist label a boy permanently as

a mother-hater or an exhibitionist

though he manifests these

tendencies alternatingly. For labelingmay prove to be a self-fulfilling

prophecy and turn an one-time

offender into an incorrigibly chronic

antisocial character. Identification of

patterns is a handy therapeutic tool

but let us guard against its fall

out,namely role inflexibility.

Pattern? Yes! Rigidity ? No!

27

Introduction:

Lifestyle is determined by ones

attitudes, beliefs and opinions

(Assael, 1998). The daily routine is

an indicator of ones lifestyle. The

lifestyle of those living in the urban

setting and those living in the rural

setting differ widely due to reasonslike access to comforts, distance and

time taken to commute from one point

to another and the socio economic

status.

In the past decade Census

reveals that there has been 85%

increase in households owning cars.

The reasons could be that

globalization has led to the

introduction of multiple brands of carsthat cater to different levels of income

groups. Dual income families and

loan options have facilitated the

purchase of cars. For the multitasking

individual owning a vehicle is out of

necessity more than comfort. In spite

of public trans

port being cheaper it

Changing Patterns in Daily Routine among

Urban CommutersSandhya Rani P J*

Nafisa Khan**

Charumathi P J****Sandhya Rani P J, PhD Research Scholar, Department of Applied Psychology,

JBAS College For Women, Teynampet. Chennai.

**Nafisa Khan, PhD Research Scholar, Department of Applied Psychology, JBASCollege For Women, Teynampet. Chennai.

***Dr Charumathi P J, Research Supervisor, Guest Faculty, Department of

Psychology, University of Madras, Chepauk. Chennai.

is seen as a facility that is not

comfortable due to over crowding

and time consuming. Apart from

privately owned vehicles there is a

rise in the number of private buses

that caters to students of colleges and

employees of companies oftenworking on shift basis 24/7 in Special

Economic Zones which are located

in the outskirts of cities. Call taxis and

shared auto rickshaws have also

increased in numbers. These

changes have caused inevitable

traffic congestion in the city not only

during peak hours but also through

out the day. However, the options

and comforts available for families in

the rural setting is not the same asthat in the urban setting. School drop

out rate was found to be higher in rural

schools than in urban schools. (Usha

Jayachandran, 2007). The school

drop out rate was higher among rural

girls as compared to urban girls.


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(Usha Jayachandran, 2007) One of

the reasons for school dropouts in

the rural settings was observed to be

distance from school and lack of time

for parents to drop them at school

(Govindraju and Venkatesan, 2010).

Need for the study:

According to Taylor (2004) dailyhassles have a cumulative impact on

health, making them a bigger stressor

than any other. Health psychologists

have identified traffic as a routine

stressor. It causes time delay, noise

pollution and air pollution. Therefore

traffic not only causes stress but also

affects health. Growing traffic

congestion has affected the

respiratory health status of childrenin urban setting (Nandasena,

Vikramesingheand Sathiakumar,

2012). Long-term infrastructure

development projects like metro rail,

highways, flyover constructions and

maintenances have resulted in

narrowed roads, bottlenecks and

changed route. However, owning a

vehicle also facilitates traveling

anytime anywhere. With all these

changes the need was felt to

understand how commuters deal with

this constant stressor.

Method and design:

The aim of the study was to

identify the measures taken by

commuters to adapt to traffic

congestion. The study was an

exploratory study conducted using

interview checklist survey technique.

Convenient sampling method was

used in this study. The sample

consisted of 65 Chennai city residents

in the age group of 30 years to 50

years out of whom 32 were men and33 were women.

Inclusion Criteria:

Owners of two-wheeled and four-

wheeled vehicles were included

in the study.

Exclusion criteria:

Commuters who use public

transport like buses and trains

were excluded from the study.

Sample consisted of 23 two-wheeler owners, 24 four-wheeler

owners and 18 commuters who

used both.

Tool used for the study:

Interview checklist:

An in -dep th in te rv iew wa s

conducted with five commuters.

Open-ended probing questions to

understand traffic stress and changes

in activities revealed changes and

adjustment made which have been

listed. Based on the responses an

interview checklist consisting of 34

items describing the changes in their

routine to cope with the traffic was

developed. The checklist consisted

of 19 items (shown in Table:1) that

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indicated measures to accommodate

traffic and 15 items (Table: 2) that

indicated lifestyle changes.

Data:

Primary data was collected

from commuters who had come to

drop their children to school and from

individuals who were on their way towork.

Analysis:

Percentage analysis was done

for the frequency of changes adapted

by the respondents.

Results:

Commuters have reported that

they use vehicles to commute to

office, to go shopping, to pick up and

drop children at schools and for extra

curricular activities, to visit friends,

relatives and for picnics and outings.The changes observed among

commuters in their routine due to

traffic have been tabulated in Table 1

and Table 2.

Traffic stress (N=65) Percentage

Affected by traffic jam. 95.4

Change route. 93.8

Avoid main roads. 47.7Take by-lane, small lanes 76.9

Affected by noise 81.5

Affected by smoke 87.7

Complete all tasks en route destination 38.5

Go out during weekends only 52.3

Avoid traveling during heavy traffic 58.5

Shopping/visiting for weekends only. 67.7

Move closer to work place / school/college 49.2

Car pool to work ( sharing transport) 35.4

Shop in the neighborhood /nearby area. 80.0Avoid long distance driving. 83.1

Use public transport to avoid driving. 46.2

Rest well before trips 63.1

Avoid self-driving (use a friend or a driver ) 33.8

Avoid driving alone 35.4

Avoid going out at all 50.8

Table No. 1: Adjustment to Traffic Related Stress


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Results and discussion:Results indicate that commuters

were affected by traffic (95%). They

were also affected by the smoke

(87%) and noise levels (81%). To

accommodate this they changed their

routes (93%); used smaller lanes and

by-lanes (76%). They planned their

shopping only during weekends

(67%) and prefer to shop in local and

nearby areas (80%). Commuters tryto avoid the rush hour driving to

escape traffic (58)% and also avoid

long distance driving (83%)and

sometimes going out (51%) itself.

The results indicate that

commuters tried to avoid the stress

caused by traffic either by avoiding

it or finding alternate ways of reaching

places. This in turn increased noise

and pollution in residential lanes

posing a major health hazard. Traffic

stress has been found to have

influenced the wellbeing of the urban

population leading to depression

(Gee, Takeuchi 2004).

Commuters were able to do more

things in a day as they had their ownvehicle (76). They try to complete all

tasks on their own (76%) and try to

complete it on the same day itself

instead of distributing it over the week

(56%). They have developed new

habits like listening to music, chants

Adjustment to stress (N=65) Percentage

Start earlier to work. 84.6

Eat breakfast /lunch in the vehicle 20.0

Change vehicle (Upgrade/ Downgrade) 20.0

Rent a cab in spite of owning vehicle 29.2

Frequently go out on picnics 21.5

Do more long trips. 24.6Travel late nights often 26.2

Have more number of vehicles 26.2

Do more things as I have my own vehicle 76.9

Do things by myself as I can drive 75.4

Attempt all pending tasks in a single day 56.9

Listen to music / chants / FM Channels. 64.6

Complete phone calls. 35.4

Reading newspapers, essential materials. 35.4

Visit more people and places due to vehicle 61.5

Table No. 2: Lifestyle Changes Due to Owning a Vehicle

31

and radio while traveling (64%). Also

they have the liberty of exploring new

places like malls and restaurants

(62%). They leave for work early

(84%). Eating in the car and night

driving have also become more

frequent as commuters enjoy the

privacy and freedom their vehicleprovides. Having a vehicle has

empowered commuters to include

new activities in their routine and also

they have displayed changes in their

work habits.

Effect on commuters:

The findings throw light upon the

fact that although long-term projects

and increase in traffic are inevitable

they have affected the citizens livesto a great extent resulting in lifestyle

changes. Such changes can

gradually lead to a change in work

culture and habits of people.

Effect on rural girls education:

In spite of the RTE act (2010) girls

in the rural settings face many hurdles

in continuing their education. Social

stigma against womens education is

high in the rural settings. Disapproval

by family members in the name of

safety and future concerns during

marriage has been the reasons cited

by girls for discontinuing education.

Parents stated that there is no time to

accompany children to school due

to housework were the most cited

reasons for higher school drop out

rates among girls (Uma Rani 2010).

Cleaner air and lesser pollution

may be the benefits enjoyed by rural

citizens yet, the benefits of owning

vehicles like saving time, facilitating

school drops and pick ups need to

be made aware for rural citizens sothat they do not discourage rural girls

from attending schools under the

pretext of lack of time and safety.

Future directions:

An awareness programme on

the benefits of transport is

necessary for those living in rural

setting to save time, effort and for

the continuity of childrens

education. Further studies on working and

non-working people in rural and

urban setting are necessary to

understand the effect of traffic

stress.

Car pooling and public

transport system needs to be

encouraged to reduce costs, fuel

consumption and pollution.

Changes across different age

groups can help identify the target

group for which awareness

programmes are necessary.

Conclusions:

1) There are changes in daily

routine due to traffic stress.

2) Commuters have displayed


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Published and owned by P. Jayachandran Naidu. Published from

8, Sridevi Colony, 7th Avenue, Ashok Nagar, Chennai 600083 and printed

by T. Rajaguru at TRK Press, 39, Saidapet Road, Vadapalani, Chennai

600026. Editor:P. Jayachandran Naidu.

Journal of School Social Work English Monthly ISSN: 0976-3759

Registered withRegistrar of Newspapers for Indiaunder No:TNENG/2004/14389

Postal Registration: TN/ CC (S) DN / 47 / 12-14

Licensed to post under: TN/PMG (CCR) / WPP - 663 / 12-14

Date of publication: 03 April 2013

References:

Assael, H (2001): Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Action . India: Thomson.

Chennai Transport (2005): retrieved on 13th February 2012 from http://www.ctn.org.in/

problems-of-chennai.html

Gee GC, Takeuchi DT (2012):Traffic Stress, Vehicular Burden and Well-being: a

Multilevel Analysis. Journal of Social Science Medicine. Jul;59(2):405-14 retrieved

on 13th February 2012 from http://www.pubmed.com.

Govindaraju R and Venkatesan S (2010): A Study on School Drop-outs in Rural

Settings. Journal of Psychology 1(1) 47-53

Nandasena S, Wickremasinghe AR, Sathiakumar N(2012):Respiratory Health Statusof Children from Two Different Air Pollution Exposure Settings of Sri Lanka: A

Cross-Sectional Study. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Feb retrieved on

13th February 2012 from http://www.pubmed.com.

Taylor S (2001): Health Psychology. India: Tata McGraw hill.

Usha Jayachandran (2007) : How High are Dropout Rates in India? Economic and

political weekly, March 17 2007. Retrieved on 28th March 2013 from http://

www.krepublishers.com/02-Journals/JP/JP-01-0-000-10-Web/JP-01-1-000-10-PDF/JP-

01-1-047-10-009-Govindaraju-R/JP-01-1-047-10-009-Govindaraju-R-Tt.pdf

(2012) Vehicles in India retrieved on 21st February 2013 from http://

articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-20/chennai/31214306_1_households-

public-transport-wheelers

Uma Rani (2010): Reasons for Rising School Dropout Rates of Rural Girls in India An Analysis using Soft Computing Approach. Retrieved on 28th March2013 from

http://www.journalcra.com/? q=node/786

changes in their daily patterns as a

result of using private transport.3) Changes in lifestyle can lead

to gradual changes in the habits and

culture.

4) No one has volunteered anyinformation on road-rage which also

needs to be investigated.

If you are using material from this article, you can

give the following reference in APA style:

Reference:Sandhya Rani P J, Nafisa Khan and Dr Charumathi

P J (2013): Changing Patterns in Daily Routine

among Urban Commuters. Journal of School Social

Work, IX-11, pp 27-32.


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