Religiosity and consumer behavior of older adults: A study of subcultural influences in Malaysia

• Although differences in consumption patterns across countries are often inferred to be the result of different cultural values and religious orientations, they raise issues of validity because of the many country‐specific factors that may affect behavior. Furthermore, the effects of religiosity are confounded with those of variables that are associated with religiosity such as age. This paper examines the effects of religiosity on well‐being and changes in consumer preferences of 645 adults age 50 and older living in different regions of Malaysia who were surveyed via personal interviews. The results confirm the positive effects of religiosity on well‐being but show differences across the three main ethnic subcultures of Malaysia (Malays, Indians, and Chinese), and they provide little support for the hypotheses that the consistency of consumer brand and store preferences is influenced by religious values. It is suggested that the relationship between religiosity and consumer behaviors warrants additional research, focusing also on variables that relate to religiosity, method of analysis, and on mechanisms that link religiosity to consumer behaviors.

Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individualism,collectivism, and Chinese adolescents' aggression: intracultural variations

This study examined the relations between cultural values (i.e., individualism and collectivism) and aggression among 460 (234 girls) Chinese adolescents. Conflict level and social status insecurity were examined as potential explaining mechanisms for these relations. The results showed that adolescents' endorsement of collectivism was negatively related to their use of overt and relational aggression as reported by teachers and peers, whereas positive associations were found between the endorsement of individualism and adolescent aggression. Adolescents' conflict level and social status insecurity accounted for a significant part of these associations. Findings of this study demonstrate the importance of examining intracultural variations of cultural values in relation to adolescent aggression as well as the process variables in explaining the relations. Aggr. Behav. 36:187–194, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Maternal socialization goals, parenting styles, and social-emotional adjustment among Chinese and European American young adults: testing a mediation model

The authors compared the associations among perceived maternal socialization goals (self-development, filial piety, and collectivism), perceived maternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and training), and the social-emotional adjustment (self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and depression) between Chinese and European American young adults. The mediation processes in which socialization goals relate to young adults' adjustment outcomes through parenting styles were examined. Results showed that European American participants perceived higher maternal self-development socialization goals, whereas Chinese participants perceived higher maternal collectivism socialization goals as well as more authoritarian parenting. Cross-cultural similarities were found in the associations between perceived maternal authoritative parenting and socioemotional adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem and higher academic self-efficacy) across the two cultural groups. However, perceived maternal authoritarian and training parenting styles were found only to be related to Chinese participants' adjustment (e.g., higher academic self-efficacy and lower depression). The mediation analyses showed that authoritative parenting significantly mediated the positive associations between the self-development and collectivism goal and socioemotional adjustment for both cultural groups. Additionally, training parenting significantly mediated the positive association between the filial piety goal and young adults' academic self-efficacy for the Chinese group only. Findings of this study highlight the importance of examining parental socialization goals in cross-cultural parenting research.     

Maternal Socialization Goals,Parenting Styles,and Social-Emotional Adjustment Among Chinese and European American Young Adults: Testing a Mediation Model

The authors compared the associations among perceived maternal socialization goals (self-development, filial piety, and collectivism), perceived maternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and training), and the social-emotional adjustment (self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and depression) between Chinese and European American young adults. The mediation processes in which socialization goals relate to young adults’ adjustment outcomes through parenting styles were examined. Results showed that European American participants perceived higher maternal self-development socialization goals, whereas Chinese participants perceived higher maternal collectivism socialization goals as well as more authoritarian parenting. Cross-cultural similarities were found in the associations between perceived maternal authoritative parenting and socioemotional adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem and higher academic self-efficacy) across the two cultural groups. However, perceived maternal authoritarian and training parenting styles were found only to be related to Chinese participants’ adjustment (e.g., higher academic self-efficacy and lower depression). The mediation analyses showed that authoritative parenting significantly mediated the positive associations between the self-development and collectivism goal and socioemotional adjustment for both cultural groups. Additionally, training parenting significantly mediated the positive association between the filial piety goal and young adults’ academic self-efficacy for the Chinese group only. Findings of this study highlight the importance of examining parental socialization goals in cross-cultural parenting research.     

The interplay between values,acculturation and adaptation: A study on Turkish‐Belgian adolescents

Although there is a bulk of evidence for the relations between values, acculturation, and adaptation, the interrelations between these key concepts of the acculturation literature have not yet been investigated simultaneously. The present study proposes a model connecting value orientations (separatedness and conformity) to adaptation outcomes (sociocultural and psychological). Furthermore, this link was hypothesized to be strengthened by an indirect relationship where acculturation strategies (culture maintenance and culture adoption) would relate certain values to certain aspects of adaptation. The model was tested on 287 Turkish‐Belgian adolescents with an average age of 16.27 years (SD = 1.86 years). SEM analysis confirmed the hypothesized indirect links underlining the crucial role of acculturation strategies as mediators in the adaptation process. Separatedness predicted sociocultural adaptation via culture adoption whereas conformity impacted psychological adaptation via culture maintenance. In addition, separatedness predicted poorer psychological adaptation. Results were discussed with reference to inverse benefits and costs of individualism and collectivism.     

Religion and Drinking in the Retirement Community

ABSTRACT

The effect of religiosity on drinking patterns of retirement community residents is examined. Based on a systematic random sample, residents of seven West Coast retirement communities were interviewed. Data on religiosity were categorized into social religious activity, and personal religious behavior. It was found that retirement community residents drink more than senior Americans living in other locations; conservative Protestants, identified as those claiming affiliation with denominations that prohibit alcohol consumption, drink less than Roman Catholics or liberal Protestants; and those who score low on religiosity drink more than those who score high on religiosity regardless of denominational affiliation. It was also shown that for conservative Protestants private religiosity predicts drinking behavior, and for liberal Protestants social religious behavior is a predictor variable. The influence of religiosity on drinking behavior was found to be significant.     

不同年龄城乡青少年价值取向的多方法复合式分析

本研究采用多方法、多特征的新思路,以4种测量方法分析不同亚文化背景下424名青少年的集体──个体价值取向（collectivism－individualismvalueorientation）的特点及其发展变化趋势,试图在价值取向的理论构思和研究方法论两方面作新的探索。结果表明：（1）不同年龄段、不同地区的被试,其集体──个体价值取向存在着显著差异;（2）4种测量方法之间结果的相关非常显著,多方法复合式分析具有聚合效度;（3）在集体──个体价值取向方向上,我国被试更倾向集体。本研究在方法学上和交叉文化差异研究中都有其积极意义,为进一步研究提供了依据。     

Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religiosity and University Students' Willingness to Donate Organs Posthumously

This research focuses on the links between intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations as they relate to willingness to donate organs posthumously. Participants responded to a factual test of their knowledge about organ donation, indicated their degree of willingness to donate organs, and filled out personality inventories measuring their intrinsic and extrinsic orientations. The data indicated a high level of factual knowledge about organ donation. Also, contrary to Allport's (1966) arguments, people with an intrinsic religious orientation were not more likely to donate their organs, nor were people with an extrinsic religious orientation less likely to do so. Instead, it was found that intrinsic religiosity was unrelated to willingness to donate organs and that extrinsics with strong social orientations were more willing to donate their organs. Discussion centers on the need to develop more psy-chometrically sound measures of mature religiosity as a means of conducting a fairer test of Allport's original theorizing about intrinsic religiosity.     

The Association of Religiosity and Political Conservatism: The Role of Political Engagement

Some argue that there is an organic connection between being religious and being politically conservative. We evaluate an alternative thesis that the relation between religiosity and political conservatism largely results from engagement with political discourse that indicates that these characteristics go together. In a combined sample of national survey respondents from 1996 to 2008, religiosity was associated with conservative positions on a wide range of attitudes and values among the highly politically engaged, but this association was generally weaker or nonexistent among those less engaged with politics. The specific political characteristics for which this pattern existed varied across ethno‐religious groups. These results suggest that whether religiosity translates into political conservatism depends to an important degree on level of engagement with political discourse.     

Counselor Empathy; Religiosity; and Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Perspectives

Values-based conflicts, such as between counselor religiosity and ability to work with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients, can present a challenge for counselors and trainees who seek to provide ethical and competent care. Because empathy can facilitate understanding a client's frame of reference, the authors examined the relationships between counselor religiosity, empathy, and LGB perspectives, as well as the potential mediating effects of empathy on values conflicts. The authors discuss implications for counselor education and practice.     

Risk,religiosity, and emerging adulthood: description of Christian,Jewish, and Muslim university students at entering the freshman year

American students transitioning to university are at an increased risk for behaviours such as binge drinking, depression and suicidality. Despite the proliferation of prevention and intervention programs, rates remain high. Although religiosity is known to confer a protective effect in this population, it remains largely untapped as a resource because, among other reasons, it is poorly understood, poses ethical challenges, and exposes areas of distrust between the religious and medical establishments. This report describes the findings of a survey that examined possible factors explaining the relationship between religiosity, risky behaviours and emotional extremes in students as they transitioned into their first year of university. This study accounted for the religious diversity of the US by surveying Christian, Jewish, Muslim and religiously unaffiliated students. Findings indicated that religiosity was consistently and negatively correlated to risky behaviours across all faith groups. Interestingly, unique patterns in levels of religiosity emerged among the various faith groups. Similarly, patterns of engagement in risky behaviours demonstrated variation among religious groups. Our findings add to the body of evidence that suggests university-based professionals take into consideration student religiosity when creating prevention intervention programs for students.     

The importance of religiosity and values in predicting political attitudes: Evidence for the continuing importance of religiosity in Flanders (Belgium)

It has often been argued that religions influence political attitudes only indirectly by their influence on the value system of believers. This value system, in turn, is supposed to be used as a guideline in forming political attitudes. Thus, in this view, it should be sufficient to focus on value orientations if one wants to examine religion's influence on political attitudes. However, results of this study among first year psychology students (n=389), show that although value orientations hold greater predictive strength than religiosity towards political attitudes in Flanders (Belgium), religiosity, even apart from values, does provide additional information in predicting political attitudes. Thus, our results suggest that, at least in Flanders, religion, even apart from values, is still a politically important force. The most important value types, as measured by the Schwartz' Value Inventory (Schwartz, 1992), and religiosity dimensions, as measured by the Post-Critical Belief scale (Desimpelaere et al., 1999), associated with political attitudes were identified. Results show that each political attitude included in this study (economic conservatism, cultural conservatism, racism and nationalism) is predicted by a more or less unique pattern of religiosity dimensions and value orientations.     

Causality Orientations, Failure, and Achievement

ABSTRACT Two studies examined similarities between Deci and Ryan's (1985) causality orientations theory and Dweck and Leggett's (1988) social-cognitive theory of achievement. Study 1 examined the conceptual similarity between the individual difference measures central to the two theories. It was shown that autonomous college students are likely to adopt learning goals and report high confidence in their academic abilities; controlled students are likely to adopt performance goals and to report high levels of confidence in their ability; and impersonal students are likely to possess the classic helpless pattern of performance goals and low confidence in their academic abilities. Study 2 examined whether causality orientations, like Dweck's measures of goals and confidence, moderate the impact of failure feedback on motivation as measured in persistence and performance. The results suggested that autonomous individuals respond to failure in a mastery-oriented fashion, whereas impersonal individuals respond in a helpless manner. The response of controlled individuals to failure parallels that of people described as ego-involved or reactive.     

The relational self: Closeness to ingroups depends on who they are, culture, and the type of closeness

Cultural differences in individualism and collectivism (I-C) describe important variations in how the self relates to others, but existing scales may be too broad-band to precisely measure this aspect of I-C. They also do not distinguish among particular ingroups and types of interdependence with them. The Circles of Closeness scale addresses these limitations. Initial results from Euro-American, Asian-American, Dutch, Turkish, and Japanese samples of college students are presented. The scales have high alpha reliability. Different results were obtained for three ingroups – immediate family, relatives, and friends – and six closeness types – emotional, supportive, identity, reputational, similarity, and harmony. These factors significantly interacted with each other, arguing for a more differentiated view of I-C.     

Similarities and Differences Between Religiosity and Spirituality in African American College Students: A Preliminary Investigation

To explore similarities and differences between religiosity and spirituality, the authors used several measures of religiosity and spirituality to examine the level of their association in 171 African American college students. Results support the multidimensionality of both constructs. An intrinsic religious orientation accounted for most of the variance in each type of spirituality; conversely. 1 type of extrinsic religious orientation accounted for almost none. The authors also found no significant differences between men's and women's scores on any of the religiosity and spirituality measures. The authors discuss implications for addressing religion and spirituality with African American clients.     

The applicability of familism to diverse ethnic groups: a preliminary study

The author examined the extent to which familism, which is generally regarded as a Hispanic cultural value, is applicable to other ethnic groups as well. An ethnically diverse sample of 318 Hispanic, non-Hispanic White, and non-Hispanic Black young adults completed measures of attitudinal familism, collectivism, and interdependence. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the scoring algorithm for the familism measure fit the data well, both overall and across ethnic groups. The author conducted analyses to ascertain (a) differences in the factor structure of familism, (b) mean differences in endorsement of familism, and (c) differences in associations of familism with collectivism and interdependence between Hispanics and the other ethnic groups. Few significant or noteworthy differences emerged in any of these analyses, suggesting that familism may be applicable to and may operate similarly within diverse ethnic groups. The author discussed findings in terms of convergence between familism and other collectivist and interdependent value orientations.     

Family functioning, cultural orientation, and psychological well-being among university students in Lebanon

The author examined the relationship between perceived family functioning, the cultural orientations of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism, and psychological well-being in a group of 182 university students in Lebanon. Factor analysis of the present data from the 12-item General Functioning Scale of the Family Assessment Device (GF-FAD) resulted in the extraction of one general factor, accounting for 43% of the variance. On the basis of North American cutoff values, the author found that 60.5% of the university students perceived their family as healthy and that 39.5% perceived their family as unhealthy. Male students perceived their families as somewhat more dysfunctional than did female students. Muslim students perceived their families as more dysfunctional than did Christian students. As the author expected, family functioning was associated with the culture-related personality dimension of horizontal collectivism and with perceived psychological well-being. Overall, the findings supported the structure and usefulness of the GF-FAD in the Lebanese context and the importance of viewing family functioning from the perspective of individual cultural orientation.     

Basic value orientations and moral foundations: Convergent or discriminant constructs?

This study examined the structural and genetic links between value orientations, based on the theory of basic values, and moral concerns, based on moral foundations theory. We hypothesized both structural and genetic convergence of Conservation (versus openness to change) with Binding foundations and of Self-transcendence (versus self-enhancement) with Individualizing foundations. We analyzed self- and informant ratings from 924 participants with extended multitrait-multirater modeling and ran twin model analyses on self-ratings from 555 twin pairs. For Conservation and Binding foundations, we found partial convergence across different rater perspectives and a substantial genetic overlap, but also distinct genetic factors. Self-transcendence and Individualizing foundations were found to be structurally divergent, but genetically linked. We discuss the conceptual and measurement-related implications of the findings.     

Personality,Religion, and Politics: An Investigation in 33 Countries

The relations of HEXACO personality factors and religiosity with political orientation were examined in responses collected online from participants in 33 countries (N = 141 492). Endorsement of a right‐wing political orientation was negatively associated with Honesty‐Humility and Openness to Experience and positively associated with religiosity. The strength of these associations varied widely across countries, such that the religiosity–politics correlations were stronger in more religious countries, whereas the personality–politics correlations were stronger in more developed countries. We also investigated the utility of the narrower traits (i.e. facets) that define the HEXACO factors. The Altruism facet (interstitially located between the Honesty‐Humility, Agreeableness, and Emotionality axes) was negatively associated with right‐wing political orientation, but religiosity was found to suppress this relationship, especially in religious countries. In addition to Altruism, the Greed Avoidance and Modesty facets of the Honesty‐Humility factor and the Unconventionality and Aesthetic Appreciation facets of the Openness to Experience factor were also negatively associated with right‐wing political orientation. We discuss the utility of examining facet‐level personality traits, along with religiosity, in research on the individual difference correlates of political orientation. Copyright © 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Self-construals and values in different cultural and socioeconomic contexts

In this study the authors investigated (a) how individuational and relational self-orientations, as well as self-directed and other-directed values, are related to one another, and (b) how these self- and value orientations differ across 2 cultural (i.e., 422 Turkish and 441 American university students) and 2 socioeconomic status (SES) groups (i.e., 186 lower SES and 167 upper SES Turkish high school students). Across cross-cultural and SES groups, individuational and relational self-orientations appeared to be not opposite but distinct orientations, as predicted by the Balanced Integration-Differentiation (BID) model (E. O. Imamoglu, 2003). Furthermore, both Turkish and American students with similar self-construal types, as suggested by the BID model, showed similar value orientations, pointing to both cross-cultural similarities and within-cultural diversity. Individuational and relational self-orientations showed weak to moderate associations with the respective value domains of self-directedness and other-directedness, which seemed to represent separate but somewhat positively correlated orientations. In both cross-cultural and SES groups, students tended to be high in both relational and individuational self-orientations; those trends were particularly strong among the Turkish and American women compared with men and among the upper SES Turkish adolescents compared with lower SES adolescents. Results are discussed as contesting the assumptions that regard the individuational and relational orientations as opposites and as supporting the search for invariant aspects of psychological functioning across contexts.