Loneliness among Japanese and American college students

Both Japanese and American college students (ns = 100), away from home at their first year in college, showed high scores in the Differential Loneliness Scale, with Japanese students scoring higher on all subscales.     

Love: American style,Russian style,and Japanese style

This study was undertaken to examine young women's and men's orientations toward love in three very different cultures: Japan (N = 223), Russia (N = 401), and the United States (N = 1,043). The love variables examined were: frequency of lore experiences, attachment types, love styles, love as a basis for marriage, romantic attitudes, and predictors of falling in love. Many cultural differences were found in the love variables, but the effect of culture was not always in the expected direction. We also examined how the pattern of gender differences in love variables differed across the three societies. Some of the gender differences and similarities found in previous love research and also in the U.S. sample of this study were not replicated in the Japanese and/or Russian samples. We discuss the importance of studying love and other aspects of close relationships with data collected from more than one culture.     

Relationship of recalled parenting style to self-perception in Korean American college students

The authors examined the relationship of authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting styles and the number of years in the United States with self-perception (academic competence, morality, and self-reliance) as recalled by Korean American college students (N = 144). Authoritative parenting behaviors were most common in Korean American families, followed by authoritarian behaviors, with permissive behaviors a distant 3rd. Authoritative parenting styles and the number of years lived in the United States were predictive of higher academic competence. Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were predictive of lower self-reliance, whereas number of years lived in the United States was related to higher self-reliance. Those findings provide partial support for generalizing D. Baumrind's (1971) model of parenting styles to Korean American families, and the findings demonstrate the importance of considering acculturation issues in parenting studies.     

Self-disclosure in romantic relationships and friendships among American and Japanese college students

The author examined whether the level of self-disclosure would differ across four types of relationships--passionate love relationships, companionate love relationships, same-sex friendships, and cross-sex friendships--and across cultures: American culture and Japanese culture. Participants were 145 college students (64 Americans and 81 Japanese). The results supported three hypotheses: (a) Japanese students scored lower in self-disclosure than American students, regardless of relationship types, (b) self-disclosure was higher in same-sex friendships than in cross-sex friendships both among American participants and among Japanese participants, and (c) self-disclosure was higher in romantic relationships than in friendships both among American students and among Japanese students. However, the correlation between self-disclosure and passionate love was not stronger than the correlation between self-disclosure and companionate love. The author discussed the present study's findings and contribution.     

Self-construal predicts reading motivation: A comparison between Hispanic American and Japanese college students

Social Psychology of Education - Self-construal refers to how individuals view themselves independently from others (Independent self-construal) or interdependently with others (Interdependent...     

Culture and self-presentation as predictors of shyness among Japanese and American female college students

Self-presentation theories of shyness have been supported in North American samples but have not been evaluated cross-culturally. This study examined the relative influence of cultural and psychological variables on self-reported shyness among Japanese and American college students. 35 female Japanese-born and 47 United States-born Euro-American female students completed the Shyness Scale, Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire, Sensitivity to Rejection Scale, and Individualism-Collectivism Scale, and a demographic data sheet. After statistically controlling for Individualism-Collectivism, psychological measures, especially perceived interpersonal competence and sensitivity to rejection, combined for Adjusted R2 = .32 in shyness. Findings suggest that similar factors are central to experiences of shyness for both samples. Researchers should assess the stability of such findings in larger, heterogeneous samples and evaluate whether treatment strategies that reduce expectations of rejection and increase perceived interpersonal competence have comparable efficacy in reducing shyness across cultures.     

Self-derogation and defense style in college students.

The self-concept literature generally shows that different measures of self-acceptance and self-satisfaction are positively related to psychological adjustment and several measures of defensiveness. In order to understand clearly the relationship between self-concept and adjustment it is also important to consider characteristic defense styles. With this purpose in mind, Kaplan, and Pokorny's Self-derogation scale, three of the most commonly used measures of defensive styles, and a measures of trait-anxiety, were administered to 158 college students. Self-derogation correlated positively with repression-sensitization and trait-anxiety, and negatively with general defensiveness. A positive relationship between self-derogation and ego-control was also found. The results were interpreted as consistent with self theory.     

Cultural influences for college student language brokers

Children from immigrant families often translate communication for parents, a process known as language brokering (LB). LB begins in childhood, but may continue through emerging adulthood, even when individuals are in college. We surveyed 1,222 university students with two immigrant parents and compared non-language brokers, infrequent language brokers, and frequent language brokers on a variety of ethnic, cultural, and identity measures. Significant differences emerged for cultural heritage value orientation, ethnic identity, and dimensions of acculturation with frequent language brokers scoring highest, infrequent language brokers scoring in the middle, and non-language brokers scoring the lowest on these measures. There were no significant differences on acculturative stress among these three groups. These results suggest that LB experiences may contribute to the development of psychological assets for ethnic minority, emerging adults from immigrant families.     

Decision making style and career indecision in college students

In an attempt to better understand the process of career indecision in college students, 203 college students enrolled in introductory psychology were given the Career Decision Scale, a measure of career undecidedness, and the Johnson Decision Making Inventory, a measure of typologies regarding decision making styles. The results indicate that one of the four Johnson types is associated with a significantly higher degree of career indecision. Spontaneous external decision making types scored highest on the Career Decision Scale, followed by spontaneous internals, whose scores were not significantly different from systematic externals, followed by systematic internals. The results must be cautiously interpreted because of the relatively small sample size, but do suggest that investigations of decision making typologies may prove to be productive in furthering understanding of the forces associated with career indecision in college students.     

Anxiety in Kuwaiti and American college students

Samples of Kuwaiti (n=646) and American (n=320) undergraduates responded to the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale in Arabic and English, respectively. Differences by sex were significant, with women having a higher mean anxiety score than men and by country with Kuwaiti women having a higher anxiety score than American women.     

Close relationships between Asian American and European American college students

The authors examined attitudes and behaviors regarding close relationships between European and Asian Americans, with a particular emphasis on 5 major subgroups of Asian Americans (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino Americans). Participants were 218 Asian American college students and 171 European American college students attending a culturally diverse university. The European Americans did not differentiate among the various subgroups of Asian Americans. Their attitudes regarding close relationships were less positive toward Asian Americans than toward Mexican and African Americans, a finding contrary to the prediction of social exchange theory (H. Tajfel, 1975). In contrast to the European Americans' view of homogeneity among Asian Americans, the 5 major subgroups of Asian Americans expressed a distinctive hierarchy of social preference among themselves. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research on interethnic relations involving Asian Americans.     

Depression and somatic symptoms in Japanese and American college students: Negative mood regulation expectancies as a personality correlate

This study clarified contradictory findings regarding whether depression and somatic symptoms are associated more strongly with each other in non‐Western countries than in Western countries, by examining the relationships of the two variables with negative mood regulation expectancies (NMRE). NMRE are beliefs about one's ability to improve one's negative moods. Participants were 155 Japanese and 176 American undergraduates. They completed self‐report measures of NMRE, coping, depression and somatic symptoms. Results showed that depression significantly correlated with somatic symptoms for both men and women in both countries, and there was no cultural difference in the relationship between depression and somatic symptoms. The relationships of depression and somatic symptoms with NMRE did not differ between cultures. NMRE explained variance in depression in both countries but variance in somatic symptoms only for women in both countries. The relationship of NMRE with depression and somatic symptoms paralleled that between depression and somatic symptoms for both cultures. These results were consistent with the previous literature that found no difference between cultures. Results support the cross‐cultural validity of measuring NMRE in the context of coping and distress.     

Differences between Japanese and American college students in giving advice about help seeking to rape victims

In this study, the author investigated differences in Japanese and American college students' tendencies to advise a hypothetical rape victim (their sister) to seek help from police, family members, or mental health professionals. Japanese students tended to encourage the victim to seek help from her family members, whereas American students tended to encourage her to seek help from police and mental health counselors. Cross-cultural discrepancies were marked by the following factors: (a) feelings of shame moderated advice to seek help from police; (b) minimization of rape mediated the likelihood to advise the involvement of police and mental health counselors; (c) attitudes toward mental health counselors mediated advice to seek help from them; and (d) the type of rape (stranger vs. date rape) moderated advice to report the crime to police.     

Depression and self-enhancement among Japanese and American students

This study examined the cultural generalizibility of the negative relationship between depression and self-enhancement. Japanese (n = 116) and American (n = 125) students completed the Zung (1965) Self-Rating Depression Scale and three measures of self-enhancement (i.e., the tendency to see oneself in a positive light). As expected, Japanese subjects were found to be more depressed and less self-serving than Americans. Negative correlations between depression and self-enhancement measures were obtained for both samples. Regression analyses of the relationships between measures indicated that sample differences in self-enhancement were explained largely by sample differences in depression. It is proposed that, relative to the Americans, Japanese students had a negative self-schema that led to higher depression and lower self-enhancement.     

Implicit bicultural identity among Mexican American and Asian American college students

Contemporary research on ethnic identity, acculturation, and cultural orientation suggests that, at least under some circumstances, individuals can successfully internalize or identify with more than one culture. Previous research on multicultural identity has relied almost exclusively on self-report measures. Using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the present research examined to what extent Mexican American and Asian American college students identified with American culture and with their culture of origin. Results indicated that Mexican American and Asian American participants strongly and equally identified with both cultures. The present research provides firm evidence for a bicultural identity through assessments of thoughts that cannot be consciously controlled. Patterns of bicultural identification obtained on implicit measures were not the product of deliberate responses to normative demands or conscious attempts to convey a particular self-image.     

Love of life in Kuwaiti and American college students

In samples of 198 Kuwaiti and 158 American college students, the Love of Life Scale appeared to have good reliability. The American students obtained slightly higher scores than the Kuwaiti students.