A "Self-Milieux" perspective on help-seeking: examining the impact of a person's sociocultural background on help-seeking in people with untreated depressive symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Mental illness is a global concern and the leading cause of years lived with disability. Research on help-seeking behaviour has focused on individual factors, but there is still much unexplained variance. Suggesting complex interactions between determinants of human behaviour a new framework called Self-Milieux is proposed to represent a person's sociocultural background. The article introduces a statistical approach to determine Self-Milieux and exemplarily examines its predictive validity for health-related research. METHODS: Self-Milieux are determined through a two-stage clustering method based on the determinants socioeconomic status and self-construal profile. Descriptive analyses are used to compare Self-Milieux characteristics. Hierarchical binary logistic regression models test the association between Self-Milieux and help-seeking behaviour, while controlling for socioeconomic status as an established predictor. RESULTS: The sample size was N = 1535 (Mage = 43.17 and 64.89% female participants). Average depression severity was M = 12.22, indicating mild to moderate symptoms. Six Self-Milieux were determined and named. Participants from privileged (aOR = 0.38) and self-sufficient (aOR = 0.37) milieux were less likely to seek help from a general practitioner than those from the entitled milieu. Participants from privileged (aOR = 0.30), collaborators (aOR = 0.50), disadvantaged (aOR = 0.33), and self-sufficient (aOR = 0.21) milieux were less likely to seek help from family members than those from the entitled and family-bound milieux. DISCUSSION: The study's strengths and limitations, as well as the cluster methodology, are discussed. The comparative results for the six Self-Milieux are interpreted based on current research. For example, participants from some milieux follow a help-seeking process proposed in previous research, while participants from other milieux seem to show a different process, one that ends in informal help-seeking.

Mother-child memory conversation and children's independent memory: the roles of maternal characteristics.

Mother-child memory conversations are a nuanced and important factor in children's memory development. The current study focuses on maternal characteristics that are related to individual differences in maternal elaborative style. It also examines the role of maternal elaborative style in children's elaborativeness in the context of reminiscing and recounting. Two hundred and nine Turkish mothers (Mage = 36.32, SD = 4.99) and their 5- to 6-year-olds (Mage in months = 66.88, SD = 4.04) (110 girls, 99 boys) participated in the current study. Results revealed that maternal individuation and balanced self-construal type predicted maternal elaborativeness, which in turn predicted child elaborativeness in reminiscing and recounting. Yet, such a relation was not observed for maternal attachment styles or sensitivity. Findings suggested the importance of maternal individuation and balanced self-construal for mothers' and children's elaborativeness in memory conversations.

The Social Inequality of Music: University Students from a Higher Social Class Are More Likely to Build Relationships and Feel Happiness Through Music.

The relationship between young people's music use and well-being has gained extensive interest in recent years. The relationship-building function of music is one of its most important functions. While many studies have documented the positive effects of this function, there is a lack of research discussing this topic from the perspective of social stratification. This study sampled 691(63.8% male, M age = 19.43, SD = 1.42) Chinese university students to examine the social class differences among university students in acquiring well-being through the relationship-building function of music. The results revealed that university students from a higher social class are more likely to acquire well-being through the relationship-building function of music. In addition, interdependent self-construal plays a moderating role in the mediating model. The mediating effect was only significant when university students have a higher level of interdependent self-construal. These results indicated social class differences among university students in the building of relationships with music, underscoring the need for future research and interventions to address social inequality in the context of music's functions.

Relationship between Personality Traits and Subjective Well-Being in Emerging Adulthood: Moderating Role of Independent and Interdependent Self-Construal.

During emerging adulthood, individuals' subjective well-being declines owing to challenges regarding identity, work, and romantic relationships. Although the relationships among personality traits, self-construal, and well-being have been examined, studies have focused on personal rather than relational subjective well-being. Furthermore, self-construal's moderating effect on the relationship between personality traits and subjective well-being remains unclear. Therefore, this study examined the relationships among the Big-five personality traits and subjective well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, and interdependent happiness) and the moderating effect of self-construal among 1548 Japanese emerging adults (Mage = 22.24, SD = 1.01). Regression analysis indicated that all aspects of subjective well-being were negatively associated with neuroticism and positively associated with extraversion, independent and interdependent self-construal. Further, agreeableness was positively associated with personal and relational well-being. Independent or interdependent self-construal can moderate the relationships between neuroticism, extraversion, and agreeableness and subjective well-being. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights for improving Japanese emerging adults' well-being.

The associations between self-construal, emotional expressivity and acculturation among Arab immigrants.

This contribution investigates differences in self-construal and emotional expressivity among Arab immigrants and non-immigrants. Furthermore, it examines the role of acculturation styles and perceived emotional acculturation in predicting these outcomes among Arab immigrants. Using a sample of 1249 self-identified Arabs (629 immigrants in Western Europe and North America; 620 non-immigrant Arabs in the Mashriq and Maghrib regions), we found that collectivist self-construal was significantly lower, and positive emotional expressivity was significantly higher among immigrant, than non-immigrant, Arabs. High home country acculturation (also in combination with high host country acculturation) was the strongest predictor of collectivist self-construal. Immigrants' perception of the positive emotional expressivity of people in their host culture was the strongest predictor of their personal positive emotional expressivity. These results were replicated using the Euclidean distance method to measure acculturation. Hence, the study provides valuable insights into the relationships between self-construal, emotional expressivity and acculturation styles, specifically among Arab immigrants.

Tourists' need for uniqueness and ethnic food purchase intention: A moderated serial mediation model.

Although the need for uniqueness has been extensively investigated by consumer researchers, food and tourism researchers have been silent on this promising research topic. This study examined food neophilia and ethnic food involvement as potential mediators of the association between tourists' need for uniqueness (TNFU) and ethnic food purchase intention. Additionally, it was tested whether independent self-construal moderates this serial mediation effect. Results showed that the relationship between tourists' need for uniqueness and ethnic food purchase intention was serially and positively mediated by food neophilia and ethnic food involvement. Furthermore, the moderated serial mediation effect was stronger at higher values of independent self-construal.

Will attitudes corrected by social norms have a more powerful impact on pro-environmental behavior? Evidence from a process model moderated by self-construal.

Residents' pro-environmental behaviors are considered important for reducing carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality. However, optimizing the implementation of pro-environmental behavior need to be further studied. To this end, we placed residents' recycling behavior within a socialized situation. Explored the "Attitude-Behavior intention-Behavior" intermediary path regulated by self-construal, whether and how it can more effectively promote residents to transfer recycling behavior intention as recycling behavior after joining the influence of social norms. The results showed that after considering the influence of social norms, the transformation of residents' Habit adjustment recycling behavior (HAB) was significantly improved. Further, the masking effect of "Behavioral intention-Interpersonal facilitation recycling behavior (IFB)" in the mediation model was effectively reduced. HAB and IFB had stronger dependence on independent self-construal (IDSC) and interdependent self-construal (ITSC), respectively. In addition, when the self-construal level was low, the overall effect of the chain mediation model was stronger, highlighting the advantage of the role played by social norms.

Discrepancy in ingroup bias among different self-construal individuals: The moderating role of group types.

Although ingroup bias is well confirmed in various groups, the extent of the bias is affected by culture. Using a point-assignment task and implicit association task (IAT) paradigm, we conducted research to explore the influence of independent/interdependent self-construal ingroup bias in live and minimal group situations from both explicit and implicit aspects. The results showed that no matter which construal style was used (independent or interdependent self-construal), participants showed ingroup bias in both live and minimal groups. In the minimal group condition, the ingroup bias of individuals with independent self-construal was significantly higher than that of individuals with interdependent self-construal. Conversely, in the live group condition, the ingroup bias of individuals with interdependent self-construal was significantly higher than that of individuals with independent self-construal. This study showed the influence of independent/interdependent self-construal on ingroup bias and group type is a moderating variable. Results indicate that group categorization may play an essential role in ingroup bias of different group types.

Need for approval from others and face concerns as predictors of interpersonal conflict outcome in 29 cultural groups.

The extent to which culture moderates the effects of need for approval from others on a person's handling of interpersonal conflict was investigated. Students from 24 nations rated how they handled a recent interpersonal conflict, using measures derived from face-negotiation theory. Samples varied in the extent to which they were perceived as characterised by the cultural logics of dignity, honour, or face. It was hypothesised that the emphasis on harmony within face cultures would reduce the relevance of need for approval from others to face-negotiation concerns. Respondents rated their need for approval from others and how much they sought to preserve their own face and the face of the other party during the conflict. Need for approval was associated with concerns for both self-face and other-face. However, as predicted, the association between need for approval from others and concern for self-face was weaker where face logic was prevalent. Favourable conflict outcome was positively related to other-face and negatively related to self-face and to need for approval from others, but there were no significant interactions related to prevailing cultural logics. The results illustrate how particular face-threatening factors can moderate the distinctive face-concerns earlier found to characterise individualistic and collectivistic cultural groups.

Do people who highly value happiness tend to ruminate?

Previous studies have suggested that an extremely strong desire for happiness might ironically reduce a person's well-being, particularly among Western people. According to the goal progress theory and the theory of valuing happiness, rumination might explain the relationship between valuing happiness and well-being. Based on these theoretical rationales, this study examined the following hypotheses: (1) valuing happiness is significantly associated with rumination, (2) people who experience low life stress have a stronger association between valuing happiness and rumination, and (3) people with more interdependent self-construal have a weaker association between valuing happiness and rumination. University students in Japan participated in a cross-sectional study (N = 350; Study 1) and a 4-weeks longitudinal study (N = 329; Study 2). They responded to a packet of questionnaires assessing valuing happiness, trait rumination, depressive symptoms, negative events, and interdependent self-construal. Consistent with our hypothesis, valuing happiness was concurrently and longitudinally associated with increased rumination after controlling for depressive symptoms. However, negative events did not moderate the association between valuing happiness and rumination. Furthermore, Study 1, but not Study 2, indicated that the association between valuing happiness and rumination was stronger among students with highly interdependent self-construal than those with less interdependent self-construal. The preset findings indicated that valuing happiness might be a factor that perpetuates rumination. More sophisticated evidence on the influence of valuing happiness on rumination can lead to effective psychotherapies for decreasing rumination and depression. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-04131-6.

Cultural differences in earliest memory reports by European and Chinese American university students born in the United States.

Grounded by the ecological systems perspectives proposed by Bronfenbrenner (1977, 1979) and Fivush and Merrill (2016), the present study was conducted to examine whether autobiographical memory (AM) and self-construal differed in young adults raised in the same macrosystem, but with unique microsystems. European American (EA) participants were born in the United States to mothers who were born in the United States (n = 61) and Chinese American (CA) participants were born in the United States to mothers who were born in China (n = 47). Participants completed an online study in which they reported on and rated aspects of their earliest memory; they also completed measures of self-construal and acculturation. EA participants identified more with mainstream American culture relative to CA participants, who identified to a greater extent with their heritage culture. EA participants also talked and thought more about their earliest memories relative to CA participants; interactions between group and sex were found for social words. Group differences were not observed on measures of self-construal. These findings indicate that microsystem-level factors are associated with differences in AM in young adults even when individuals are born and raised in the same macro-level cultural environment.

Interdependent self-construal moderates the relationship between pro-generation investment and future orientation: A cross-cultural comparison.

INTRODUCTION: Cultural orientation and interdependent self-construal can moderate the relationship between perceived pro-generation investment and future orientation of young adults. To test how interdependent self-construal moderate the relationship between pro-generation investment and future orientation of young adults from two different cultural ecologies was the aim of the current study. METHODS: A cross-cultural comparison was conducted among study participants from China, Germany, and the United States. Interdependent self-construal, perceived pro-generation investment by parents (parental investment), and future orientation were measured. Cross-cultural data were collected from 205 college students in China, a collectivist culture, and 169 college students in Germany (n = 50) and the United States (n = 119), which are individualist cultures. We examined a three-way interaction with cultural orientation and interdependent self-construal as moderators in the relationship between perceived parental investment and future orientation. RESULTS: In the collectivist cultural context, there appeared no moderating effect of interdependent self-construal on the relationship between perceived parental investment and future orientation, although interdependent self-construal and perceived parental investment predicted future orientation. In the individualistic cultural context, there was a moderating effect. For individuals high in interdependent self-construal, future orientation remained stable as perceived parental investment increased. For individuals low in interdependent self-construal, future orientation decreased as perceived parental investment increased. CONCLUSIONS: The findings have practical implications in that parents should follow the cultural orientation of their background and provide their children with individualized investment and education to shape the future orientation of their offspring.

Aligning personal and collective interests in emerging adults during the COVID-19 emergency in Italy.

This study investigated the relations of emerging adults' personal (civic competence and interdependent self-construal) and community-based (sense of community and civic engagement) resources as predictors of appraisal of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) and attitudes toward preventing contagion in Italy. Participants were 2873 Italian emerging adults (71% females) aged 19-30 years (M = 22.67, SD = 2.82). Structural equation modeling revealed both direct and indirect positive associations among study variables. Civic competence and interdependent self-construal were related to sense of community and civic engagement behavior which, in turn, predicted appraisal of PHEM. Appraisal of PHEM in turn predicted attitudes toward preventing contagion. Overall, findings highlight the importance of examining the alignment between personal and collective interests to understand emerging adults' evaluative and attitudinal experiences during a period of crisis, such as that created by COVID-19.

Cultural differences in visual perceptual learning.

Cultural differences in visual perceptual learning (VPL) could be attributed to differences in the way that people from individualistic and collectivistic cultures preferentially attend to local objects (analytic) or global contexts (holistic). Indeed, individuals from different cultural backgrounds can adopt distinct processing styles and learn to differentially construct meaning from the environment. Therefore, the present work investigates if cross-cultural differences in VPL can vary as a function of holistic processing. A shape discrimination task was used to investigate whether the individualistic versus collectivistic backgrounds of individuals affected the detection of global shapes embedded in cluttered backgrounds. Seventy-seven participants-including Asian (collectivistic background) and European (individualistic background) students-were trained to discriminate between radial and concentric patterns. Singelis's self-construal scale was also used to assess whether differences in learning could be attributed to independent or interdependent self-construal. Results showed that collectivists had faster learning rates and better accuracy performance than individualists following training-thereby reflecting their tendency to attend holistically when learning to extract global forms. Further, we observed a negative association between independent self-construal-which has previously been linked to analytic processing-with performance. This study provides insight into how socio-cultural backgrounds affect VPL.

The divided brain: Functional brain asymmetry underlying self-construal.

Self-construal (orientations of independence and interdependence) is a fundamental concept that guides human behaviour, and it is linked to a large number of brain regions. However, understanding the connectivity of these regions and the critical principles underlying these self-functions are lacking. Because brain activity linked to self-related processes are intrinsic, the resting-state method has received substantial attention. Here, we focused on resting-state functional connectivity matrices based on brain asymmetry as indexed by the differential partition of the connectivity located in mirrored positions of the two hemispheres, hemispheric specialization measured using the intra-hemispheric (left or right) connectivity, brain communication via inter-hemispheric interactions, and global connectivity as the sum of the two intra-hemispheric connectivity. Combining machine learning techniques with hypothesis-driven network mapping approaches, we demonstrated that orientations of independence and interdependence were best predicted by the asymmetric matrix compared to brain communication, hemispheric specialization, and global connectivity matrices. The network results revealed that there were distinct asymmetric connections between the default mode network, the salience network and the executive control network which characterise independence and interdependence. These analyses shed light on the importance of brain asymmetry in understanding how complex self-functions are optimally represented in the brain networks.

Minding Your Own Business? Mindfulness Decreases Prosocial Behavior for People With Independent Self-Construals.

Mindfulness appears to promote individual well-being, but its interpersonal effects are less clear. Two studies in adult populations tested whether the effects of mindfulness on prosocial behavior differ according to individuals' self-construals. In Study 1 (N = 366), a brief mindfulness induction, compared with a meditation control condition, led to decreased prosocial behavior among people with relatively independent self-construals but had the opposite effect among those with relatively interdependent self-construals. In Study 2 (N = 325), a mindfulness induction led to decreased prosocial behavior among people primed with independence but had the opposite effect among those primed with interdependence. The effects of mindfulness on prosocial behavior appear to depend on individuals' broader social goals. This may have implications for the increasing popularity of mindfulness training around the world.

Understanding adolescents' perceived social responsibility: The role of family cohesion, interdependent self-construal, and social trust.

INTRODUCTION: Positive family interactions contribute to the development of social responsibility among adolescents. Interdependent self-construal and social trust, which reflect the perceived relatedness and beliefs towards others, may explain the relation between family cohesion and social responsibility. The present study tested the mediating mechanisms between family cohesion and adolescents' social responsibility via adolescents' interdependent self-construal and social trust. METHODS: A total of 386 Chinese children in Hong Kong (52.07% girls, Mage = 13.64 years) and their parents completed self-report questionnaires twice at 12 months apart. Family cohesion was measured by mothers', fathers', and adolescents' reports to provide a comprehensive representation of the family environment. A structural equation modeling was conducted to investigate the mediation effect. RESULTS: Findings based on structural equation modeling revealed that family cohesion was positively associated with interdependent self-construal and social trust. In addition, adolescents' interdependent self-construal and social trust were positively associated with social responsibility. Bootstrapping analysis showed that interdependent self-construal and social trust were mediators between family cohesion and social responsibility. CONCLUSION: Based on these findings, the study added new evidence to the literature by demonstrating the mediating role of interdependent self-construal and social trust between family cohesion and social responsibility. Future studies could examine potential cultural variabilities in Western and other Chinese contexts.

Narcissism in independent and interdependent cultures.

Narcissism can manifest in a grandiose form - admiration-seeking, exhibitionism, and dominance - or a vulnerable form - anxiety, withdrawal, and hypersensitivity. While grandiose narcissism is conceptually in line with an independent self-construal, as prevalent in Western countries, the vulnerable form can be assumed to relate more to an interdependent self-construal, as prevalent in Eastern countries. We studied both forms of narcissism in Germany and Japan (Ns = 258, 280), which differ fundamentally in their independent and interdependent self-construal, yet are similar regarding global developmental standards. We tested whether (1) mean differences in both narcissism forms would conform to the predominant self-construal, (2) self-construal would explain variance in narcissism beyond broad personality traits, and (3) there would be stronger mental health tradeoffs for culturally incongruent forms of narcissism. Our results largely confirm these expectations for vulnerable narcissism, which is (1) more prevalent in Japan than Germany, (2) related to self-construal beyond broad traits, and, (3) more strongly related to mental health problems in Germany than Japan. For grandiose narcissism, data analyses indicated that construct equivalence can only be assumed for the entitlement factor, and internal structure and nomological networks differ substantially between cultural contexts.

Trait self-construal, inclusion of others in the self and self-control predict stay-at-home adherence during COVID-19.

To combat the global COVID-19 crisis, governments and health organizations rely on collective cooperation among every ordinary individual to adhere to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such physical distancing which includes, as examined in our study, staying at home. Thus, we ask the question: do individual differences in how individuals see themselves as connected to or separated from others (i.e., independent vs. interdependent self-construal) predict their stay-at-home adherence? In an online study (N = 358; 47.1% female, Mage = 40.48; 74.02% White), we measured trait self-construal, inclusion of others in the self (IOS), self-control and likelihood to stay-at-home in various scenarios. Results revealed a significant indirect, sequential effect of self-construal on stay-at-home adherence via IOS and self-control. Specifically, participants with a more accessible interdependent (vs. independent) self-construal reported higher stay-at-home adherence intentions as a consequence of greater IOS and self-control. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Cultural variation in the gray matter volume of the prefrontal cortex is moderated by the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4).

Recent evidence suggests a systematic cultural difference in the volume/thickness of prefrontal regions of the brain. However, origins of this difference remain unclear. Here, we addressed this gap by adopting a unique genetic approach. People who carry the 7- or 2-repeat (7/2-R) allele of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) are more sensitive to environmental influences, including cultural influences. Therefore, if the difference in brain structure is due to cultural influences, it should be moderated by DRD4. We recruited 132 young adults (both European Americans and Asian-born East Asians). Voxel-based morphometry showed that gray matter (GM) volume of the medial prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex was significantly greater among European Americans than among East Asians. Moreover, the difference in GM volume was significantly more pronounced among carriers of the 7/2-R allele of DRD4 than among non-carriers. This pattern was robust in an alternative measure assessing cortical thickness. A further exploratory analysis showed that among East Asian carriers, the number of years spent in the U.S. predicted increased GM volume in the orbitofrontal cortex. The present evidence is consistent with a view that culture shapes the brain by mobilizing epigenetic pathways that are gradually established through socialization and enculturation.