Relationship between sex, age, education and field-dependence: a cross-cultural comparison

Past examination of the relationship between field-independence and age has indicated a developmental trend of increased field-independence up to 17 yr., with a movement toward greater field-dependence after this point. However, discrepancies between longitudinal and cross-sectional findings suggest that this relationship may be confounded by socioeconomic variables. The present study examined the age/field-dependence relationship in a sample of Northern Italians controlling for educational background. Results for females indicated statistical control of educational variables modified the age/field-dependence relationship, but did not for the male sample.     

Affective dimensions of odor perception: a comparison between Swiss, British, and Singaporean populations

Do affective responses to odors vary as a function of culture? To address this question, we developed two self-report scales in the United Kingdom (Liverpool: LEOS) and in Singapore (city of Singapore: SEOS), following the same procedure as used in the past to develop the Geneva Emotion and Odor Scale (GEOS: Chrea, Grandjean, Delplanque et al., 2009). The final scales were obtained by a three-step reduction of an initial pool of 480 affective terms, retaining only the most relevant terms to describe odor-related subjective affective states and comprised of six (GEOS) or seven affective dimensions (LEOS and SEOS). These included dimensions that were common to the three cultures (Disgust, Happiness Well-being, Sensuality Desire, and Energy), common to the two European samples (Soothing Peacefulness), and dimensions that were culture specific (Sensory Pleasure in Geneva; Nostalgia and Hunger Thirst in Liverpool; Intellectual Stimulation, Spirituality, and Negative Feelings in Singapore). A comparative approach showed that the dimensional organization of odor-related affective terms in a given culture better explained data variability for that culture than data variability for the other cultures, thus highlighting the importance of culture-specific tools in the investigation of odor-related affect.     

Prospective teachers' conceptions of assessment: a cross-cultural comparison

This paper examines the responses of two sample of prospective teachers (New Zealand, n = 324; and Spain, n = 672) to the Teachers' Conceptions of Assessment inventory (English and Spanish respectively). The inventory captures four major intentions for assessment (i.e., improvement, irrelevance, school and student accountability). The conceptions of prospective teachers about the nature and purpose of assessment are relevant, given that (a) much educational assessment is carried out in classrooms; and (b) prospective teachers enter the teacher education programs with significant prior school experience of assessment as pupils. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the original model was inadmissible and that the best-fitting revised model was only configurally invariant between the two samples. It would appear that lack of teaching experience results in different responses for prospective teachers to those of practicing teachers. Moreover, differences in societal and cultural priorities for assessment use most likely explain the lack of invariance between samples.     

Coping with loneliness in old age: a cross-cultural comparison

The present study is an examination of the influence of cultural background on the ways in which the aged cope with loneliness. Thirty-six participants from Canada and 105 from Portugal (60-83 years old) answered an 86-item questionnaire which examined thebeneficial strategies which they used to cope with loneliness. The strategies which were examined included Acceptance and Reflection, Self-Development and Understanding, Social Support Network, Distancing and Denial, Religion and Faith, and Increased Activity. Results indicated that the elderly of the two cultures differ on three subscales. Gender differences between and within cultures were also examined.     

Coping with loneliness in old age: a cross-cultural comparison

The present study is an examination of the influence of cultural background on the ways in which the aged cope with loneliness. Thirty-six participants from Canada and 105 from Portugal (60-83 years old) answered an 86-item questionnaire which examined thebeneficial strategies which they used to cope with loneliness. The strategies which were examined included Acceptance and Reflection, Self-Development and Understanding, Social Support Network, Distancing and Denial, Religion and Faith, and Increased Activity. Results indicated that the elderly of the two cultures differ on three subscales. Gender differences between and within cultures were also examined.     

Classroom climate and students' goal preferences: a cross-cultural comparison

Goal preferences indicate intentions to achieve or avoid particular states. We examined whether Curacaoan and Dutch students differ in goal preferences related to school and whether goal preferences are associated with students' evaluation of the classroom climate. Measurement invariance of the instruments was also tested between samples. Participants attended vocational high schools in Curacao ( N = 276) or in the Netherlands ( N = 283). Both the classroom climate and goal preferences differed between the samples. In the Netherlands the preference for individuality, belongingness, and recognition was stronger, whereas in Curacao mastery, satisfaction, self-determination, and material gain were more frequently endorsed. The two variables were modestly correlated. Schools do have a globalizing effect on students' school experiences and hardly adapt to goal preferences. The latter seem to be affected by non-school related cultural factors.     

Love in cross-cultural perspective: Mozambique-France comparison

The study aimed to characterise the conceptualisation of love in Mozambique (a collectivist society) and France (an individualistic society) on three attributes: passion, intimacy, and commitment. The study sample comprised 310 Mozambican adults (females = 57%; age range = 18-64) and 220 French adults (females = 54%; age range = 18-64). They completed 27 information scenarios on passion, intimacy, and commitment. The data were analysed utilising mixed-method estimation of the variance accounted for by the three components of love. Results indicated that for the Mozambican participants passion was the most important factor (46%) in love expression, followed by commitment (37%), and intimacy (17%). For the French participants, passion was the most important factor (50%), followed by intimacy (28%), and commitment (22%). Across countries, the weight given to passion was reported to decline over age while the weight assigned to commitment was reported to increase with age.     

Self-esteem,personality and Internet Addiction: A cross-cultural comparison study

Previous work from Germany and Austria highlighted the importance of personality and excessive private Internet usage for Internet Addiction (IA). In a cross-cultural approach we tried to replicate a negative association between IA and the personality trait of self-directedness in Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, Colombia, China, Taiwan and Sweden and as well the finding that persons with a damaged self-esteem have a higher proclivity for becoming Internet addicted in Bulgaria, Spain, Germany and Colombia. In total N = 989 took part in the study. Results show that the personality dimension self-directedness was negatively correlated to the IA score of the participants in all samples. In contrast, no interaction effect between implicit and explicit self-esteem on IA could be observed.     

Coping behavior of Finnish adolescents: Remarks on a cross-cultural comparison

As part of a larger cross-cultural project, the present study analyses the coping styles of Finnish adolescents. A sample of 548 adolescents aged 15 to 17 years was investigated. Coping styles were defined by a matrix of 20 coping strategies applied across eight different developmental areas. Factor analysis revealed a three-dimensional structure of coping styles. The first dimension involves activities such as seeking support or taking advice (Active Coping), the second emphasizes the adolescent's appraisal of the situation and the search for a compromise (Internal Coping/Compromising) and the third includes defenses like denial and withdrawal (Withdrawal) and may be regarded as dysfunctional. The Finnish adolescents most frequently employed functional forms of coping like Active Coping and Internal Coping/Compromising: dysfunctional coping style such as Withdrawal was used less often. In addition, significant main effects for age and gender were found. Girls favored more Active Coping and support seeking behavior, as compared to boys. Both functional coping modes showed an increase with age. A comparison of coping styles across eight different problem areas revealed situation specific influences, too. The discussion compares the coping styles of Finnish adolescents with results of two parallel studies focussing on German and Israeli adolescents, using the same instrument. In spite of the considerable impact of environmental and historical conditions in the three countries, the similarities in coping behavior were impressive.     

Self-reported assertiveness in Swedish and Turkish adolescents: a cross-cultural comparison

The present cross-cultural study compared self-reported assertiveness in 652 Swedish and 654 Turkish high school students by using a multi-dimensional measure called the Scale for Interpersonal Behavior (SIB). Four hypotheses were tested in the study. First, the hypothesis that Swedish adolescents would be more assertive than their Turkish counterparts was supported by the data. Second, the expectation that Turkish boys would be more assertive than Turkish girls, while there would be no differences between Swedish girls and boys, was not confirmed. In general, girls were found to be more skilled than boys in expressing and dealing with personal limitations. Third, as expected, more assertive adolescents in both Sweden and Turkey reported having more friends and receiving more social support than their less assertive peers. Finally, the data supported the expectation that older adolescents would be more assertive than younger ones. The results are discussed in terms of cultural and gender differences.     

Facial emotion recognition: a cross-cultural comparison of Chinese,Chinese living in Australia,and Anglo-Australians

This study investigated how the cultural match or mismatch between observer and perceiver can affect the accuracy of judgements of facial emotion, and how acculturation can affect cross-cultural recognition accuracy. The sample consisted of 51 Caucasian-Australians, 51 people of Chinese heritage living in Australia (PCHA) and 51 Mainland Chinese. Participants were required to identify the emotions of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust displayed in photographs of Caucasian and Chinese faces. The PCHA group also responded to an acculturation measure that assessed their adoption of Australian cultural values and adherence to heritage (Chinese) cultural values. Counter to the hypotheses, the Caucasian-Australian and PCHA groups were found to be significantly more accurate at identifying both the Chinese and Caucasian facial expressions than the Mainland Chinese group. Adoption of Australian culture was found to predict greater accuracy in recognising the emotions displayed on Caucasian faces for the PCHA group.     

Reactions to perceived deprivation in ingroup and outgroup: a cross-cultural comparison

An experiment is reported in which the reactions of observers to the relative and absolute deprivation of others are assessed. Eighty German and 80 Italian subjects made decisions about ingroup (own nationality) or outgroup (foreign) protagonists suffering high or low relative and absolute deprivation. Results showed that subjects were more likely to take social action that violated some rule when the protagonist was in high rather than low absolute deprivation. Racist subjects were somewhat more likely to satisfy the request of a deprived ingroup protagonist whereas non-racist subjects favoured the deprived outgroup. No differences emerged for non-deprived protagonists. Overall, Germans tended to take social action only when the protagonist suffered high absolute deprivation whereas Italians took action regardless of degree of absolute deprivation. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parental communication deviance and schizophrenia: a cross-cultural comparison of Mexican- and Anglo-Americans

Levels of parental communication deviance (CD), as measured on the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), were compared among families of schizophrenic patients in two culturally distinct groups. Spanish-speaking Mexican-American parents of schizophrenics completed the TAT in their native language, and CD was coded from their stories by a Spanish-speaking rater. Mexican-American parents had levels of CD that were nearly identical to those of a carefully matched sample of English-speaking Anglo-American parents. Factor scores that measure distinct subtypes of CD also did not differ across groups. The data suggest that levels of CD, despite discriminating between parents of schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics, do not vary across different languages and cultures.     

Beliefs about the cause,manifestation, and cure of schizophrenia: A cross-cultural comparison

This study set out to compare British and Sri Lankan young people's (students) beliefs concerning the causes, manifestations, and cures of schizophrenia. One hundred and seventy-five British and Sri Lankan participants completed the three-part questionnaire in their mother tongue. It was hypothesized that the Sri Lankans would have more negative and uninformed attitudes and beliefs about schizophrenia than the British. It was also hypothesized that the Sri Lankans would favour superstitious, family, and sociological causes to explain the development of schizophrenia, while the British would favour more biological explanations. These two hypotheses were confirmed after factor-analysing the internal structure of the three sections of the questionnaire. Even well-educated young people remain ignorant about one of the most challenging mental illnesses.