Thesis
Differential prediction of life satisfaction in individualistic and collectivistic cultures: towards integration of personality and cultural models
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2010
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/101265
Abstract
A better understanding of the factors that contribute to life satisfaction has important implications for mental health and for individuals’ attempts to live the "good life". The impact of personality and culture-related variables (i.e., self-construals) on life satisfaction has been examined, but rarely in combination or across a broad range of cultures. In this study, structural equations modeling (SEM) was applied to examine how the Big Five personality traits and selfconstruals impact life satisfaction both separately and jointly through the mediating variables of self-esteem and relationship harmony across six cultures. The findings revealed clear interplay between these two types of predictors, and the mediating effects of relationship harmony and self-esteem in the prediction of life satisfaction. Although the separate cultural model, which contained fewer parameters, exhibited somewhat better goodness-of-fit indices, the personality model explained a greater proportion of variance in the endogenous variables (relationship harmony, self-esteem, life satisfaction). When personality and cultural variables were integrated into the same models, neither a personality-first, nor culture-first model was substantially better than the other. In general, the SEM analyses supported greater cross-cultural equivalence than differences in model structure, indicating that the predictive value of the variables was similar across cultures. Furthermore, those cultural differences that were identified were not explained v by the individualism/collectivism distinction, highlighting the need to explore additional cultural factors. Overall, the results indicate the importance of considering the interaction of personality and culture-related variables as determinants of life satisfaction, as well as the need to further examine the role of additional cultural factors in this process.
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Details
- Title
- Differential prediction of life satisfaction in individualistic and collectivistic cultures
- Creators
- Dana Fairbrother
- Contributors
- A. Timothy Church (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Educational Leadership, Sport Studies, and Educational/Counseling Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525290601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis