Neither Eastern nor Western: Patterns of independence and interdependence in Mediterranean societies.

Social science research has highlighted "honor" as a central value driving social behavior in Mediterranean societies, which requires individuals to develop and protect a sense of their personal self-worth and their social reputation, through assertiveness, competitiveness, and retaliation in the face of threats. We predicted that members of Mediterranean societies may exhibit a distinctive combination of independent and interdependent social orientation, self-construal, and cognitive style, compared to more commonly studied East Asian and Anglo-Western cultural groups. We compared participants from eight Mediterranean societies (Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus [Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities], Lebanon, Egypt) to participants from East Asian (Korea, Japan) and Anglo-Western (the United Kingdom, the United States) societies, using six implicit social orientation indicators, an eight-dimensional self-construal scale, and four cognitive style indicators. Compared with both East Asian and Anglo-Western samples, samples from Mediterranean societies distinctively emphasized several forms of independence (relative intensity of disengaging [vs. engaging] emotions, happiness based on disengaging [vs. engaging] emotions, dispositional [vs. situational] attribution style, self-construal as different from others, self-directed, self-reliant, self-expressive, and consistent) and interdependence (closeness to in-group [vs. out-group] members, self-construal as connected and committed to close others). Our findings extend previous insights into patterns of cultural orientation beyond commonly examined East-West comparisons to an understudied world region. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Proximal and distal honor fit and subjective well-being in the Mediterranean region.

OBJECTIVE: People's psychological tendencies are attuned to their sociocultural context and culture-specific ways of being, feeling, and thinking are believed to assist individuals in successfully navigating their environment. Supporting this idea, a stronger "fit" with one's cultural environment has often been linked to positive psychological outcomes. The current research expands the cultural, conceptual, and methodological space of cultural fit research by exploring the link between well-being and honor, a central driver of social behavior in the Mediterranean region. METHOD: Drawing on a multi-national sample from eight countries circum-Mediterranean (N = 2257), we examined the relationship between cultural fit in honor and well-being at the distal level (fit with one's perceived society) using response surface analysis (RSA) and at the proximal level (fit with one's university gender group) using profile analysis. RESULTS: We found positive links between fit and well-being in both distal (for some, but not all, honor facets) and proximal fit analyses (across all honor facets). Furthermore, most fit effects in the RSA were complemented with positive level effects of the predictors, with higher average honor levels predicting higher well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the interplay between individual and environmental factors in honor as well as the important role honor plays in well-being in the Mediterranean region.

Perceived Discrimination and Psychological Well-Being Among Immigrants Living in Greece: Separation as Mediator and Interdependence as Moderator.

The present study was based on the rejection-identification model regarding migrants acculturation. Personal perceived discrimination, acculturation attitudes, self-construal, and psychological well-being were examined simultaneously in Albanian and Indian immigrants residing in Greece (N = 233). It was hypothesized that perceived discrimination would be related negatively to immigrants' psychological well-being, both directly and indirectly. A positive relationship was expected between perceived discrimination and separation and a negative relationship between discrimination and integration, or assimilation. It was, also, expected a positive relationship of perceived discrimination to interdependent self-construal and a negative relationship to independent self-construal. Furthermore, it was examined the mediating role of separation in the association of perceived discrimination with psychological well-being and the moderating role of interdependent self-construal in the association of perceived discrimination with psychological well-being. According to the results, perceived discrimination was positively related to separation and negatively to integration, but was related neither to independent nor to interdependent self-construal. Perceived discrimination was, also, positively related to depression directly and indirectly. Fewer depressive symptoms were reported by those immigrants who face discrimination but also select separation. Immigrants with high levels of interdependence, also, do seem to be protected from depression and anxiety. The interpretation of these findings signifies that, when immigrants who perceive discrimination choose separation from the host country, they may reduce their depression feelings, by fitting into relationships with in-group members. Interdependence and the perception of immigrants self as a social unit, also, may act protectively for their psychological well-being, enhancing the identification with the in-group, as well.

The role of self-esteem in the relationship between anxiety and depression of Albanian and Indian immigrants in Greece.

Ιmmigrants' psychological health has been the focus of many studies as it is a timely subject due to the increasing numbers of immigrants and refugees who enter Greece the recent decades, and the resulting anxiety that this process brings about to the individual. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between immigrants' and Greeks' anxiety, self-esteem and depression. In addition, the present study aimed to compare the psychological health between immigrants and Greeks. The participants were 115 Albanian, 118 Indian immigrants, and 116 Greeks. Τhe Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the CES-D Scale, and the State Anxiety Inventory were administrated for measuring self-esteem, depression, and anxiety, respectively. To test the bivariate relationships between the study variables, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were calculated. The potential differences of psychological health between immigrant groups were examined with ANOVA, and multiple linear regression was used to predict the variance of depression by self-esteem and anxiety, after controlling for ethnicity and demographics. Moreover, moderation analysis was used to examine the moderation role of self-esteem in the relationship between anxiety and depression and possible differences between ethnic groups. In line with our hypotheses, immigrants had higher levels of depression and lower self-esteem scores, compared to Greeks. However, Indians reported the lower levels of anxiety compared to both Albanians and Greeks. Differences were also observed between the two immigrant groups, with Albanians experiencing more mental health problems than Indians. Both self-esteem and anxiety explained a large proportion of the variance of depression in immigrants (45%), thus substantiating our theoretical model (i.e., depression depends on individuals' anxiety and self-esteem). Consistent to our expectations too, self-esteem was a moderator in the relationship between anxiety and depression; no differences between ethnic groups were observed though (e.g., the level of self-esteem acted protectively in the same way in Albanians, Indians, and Greeks). Despite the limitations, the findings of this study could be particularly useful to clinicians working with immigrants. Coping effectively with anxiety and enhancing immigrants' self-esteem could be tailored-based targets for both prevention and intervention programs.Ιmmigrants' psychological health has been the focus of many studies as it is a timely subject due to the increasing numbers of immigrants and refugees who enter Greece the recent decades, and the resulting anxiety that this process brings about to the individual. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between immigrants' and Greeks' anxiety, self-esteem and depression. In addition, the present study aimed to compare the psychological health between immigrants and Greeks. The participants were 115 Albanian, 118 Indian immigrants, and 116 Greeks. Τhe Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the CES-D Scale, and the State Anxiety Inventory were administrated for measuring self-esteem, depression, and anxiety, respectively. To test the bivariate relationships between the study variables, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were calculated. The potential differences of psychological health between immigrant groups were examined with ANOVA, and multiple linear regression was used to predict the variance of depression by self-esteem and anxiety, after controlling for ethnicity and demographics. Moreover, moderation analysis was used to examine the moderation role of self-esteem in the relationship between anxiety and depression and possible differences between ethnic groups. In line with our hypotheses, immigrants had higher levels of depression and lower self-esteem scores, compared to Greeks. However, Indians reported the lower levels of anxiety compared to both Albanians and Greeks. Differences were also observed between the two immigrant groups, with Albanians experiencing more mental health problems than Indians. Both self-esteem and anxiety explained a large proportion of the variance of depression in immigrants (45%), thus substantiating our theoretical model (i.e., depression depends on individuals' anxiety and self-esteem). Consistent to our expectations too, self-esteem was a moderator in the relationship between anxiety and depression; no differences between ethnic groups were observed though (e.g., the level of self-esteem acted protectively in the same way in Albanians, Indians, and Greeks). Despite the limitations, the findings of this study could be particularly useful to clinicians working with immigrants. Coping effectively with anxiety and enhancing immigrants' self-esteem could be tailored-based targets for both prevention and intervention programs.