Person-culture fit boosts national pride: A cross-cultural study among 78 societies

Interplay of Adolescents' and Parents' Mindsets of Socioeconomic Status on Adolescents' Stress-Related Outcomes

The reciprocity and variation of values and beliefs are dynamic features of the parent-child relationship. Parents and adolescents may hold congruent or incongruent views regarding the malleability of socioeconomic status (mindset of SES), potentially influencing adolescents' psychological and physiological stress outcomes, as reflected in stress perceptions and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning. The current study investigated how patterns of parent-adolescent congruence and incongruence in mindset of SES were associated with adolescents' perceived stress and diurnal cortisol patterns four months later. A total of 253 adolescents (Mage = 12.60, 46.2% girls) and their parents (Mage = 40.09 years, 59.5% mothers) participated in this study. Polynomial regression analyses and response surface analyses showed that adolescents perceived lower levels of stress when they themselves or their parents reported a stronger growth mindset of SES. Additionally, adolescents with a stronger growth mindset of SES also exhibited a steeper diurnal cortisol slope. Moreover, parents' mindset significantly interacted with adolescents' mindset to influence adolescents' diurnal cortisol patterns such that when adolescents hold weaker growth mindset of SES, those with higher parental growth mindsets had significantly higher cortisol awakening response and steeper diurnal cortisol slope. Furthermore, adolescents who showed incongruence with their parents but had averagely stronger growth mindsets of SES reported a significantly steeper diurnal cortisol slope than those who had averagely weaker growth mindsets with their parents. The findings point to the beneficial impacts of the growth mindset of SES on stress-related outcomes among adolescents, as well as the significance of considering both parents' and adolescents' mindsets when exploring these associations.

The psychological imprint of inequality: Economic inequality shapes achievement and power values in human life

OBJECTIVE

This research investigates how economic inequality shapes basic human values across three cross-national, cross-regional, and longitudinal studies (Ntotal  = 219,697).

METHODS

Study 1 examined the relationship between objective economic inequality and values across 77 societies from all five continents (n = 170,525). Study 2 examined the relationship between objective economic inequality and values across 51 regions in the United States (n = 48,559). Study 3 used a two-year longitudinal design to examine the relationship between perceived economic inequality and values (n = 613).

RESULTS

Results from multilevel modeling and longitudinal analysis suggested that people who lived in areas with higher economic inequality and who perceived higher economic inequality were more likely to endorse achievement and power values. Moreover, people who perceived higher economic inequality were less likely to endorse benevolence values. These effects were robust in within-country tests (Studies 2 and 3) but not in the cross-country tests (Study 1) when accounting for sociodemographic characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that economic inequality may act as an antecedent of self-enhancement values, particularly within countries. In a world of rising economic inequality, this may over time lead to an overemphasis on achievement and power which have been shown to erode social cohesion.

The effect of individual values on self-esteem and meaning in life in adolescents: A cross-sectional study from Turkey

AIM

This study aimed to determine the effect of personal values on self-esteem and meaning in life in adolescents.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted with 404 adolescents in Turkey. The data were collected with the "Portrait Values Questionnaire" (PVQ), the "Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale" (RSE), and the "Meaning in Life Questionnaire" (MLQ) between September and December 2021. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of the data, and multivariate correlation and regression analyses were performed. The STROBE checklist was used for reporting.

RESULTS

The mean PVQ score was 4.84 ± 0.59, indicating good individual values. The mean RSES score was 1.86 ± 0.62, showing moderate self-esteem. The mean MLQ score was 4.24 ± 1.17, indicating a moderate meaning in life. There was a positive relationship between the PVQ scores of the adolescents and their RSE and MLQ. PVQ was a positive predictor of RSE and MLQ in these adolescents.

CONCLUSIONS

This study revealed that adolescents have good individual values, and moderate self-esteem and meaning in life. Individual values have a positive effect on adolescents' self-esteem and meaning in life. Future studies are expected to explore how personal values affect self-esteem and meaning in life in adolescents using longitudinal study data. Understanding how adolescents' personal values affect self-esteem and well-being can contribute to the development of further strategies to increase adolescents' self-esteem and happiness levels.

Revisiting Values and Self-Esteem: A Large-Scale Study in the United States

Person-culture fit perspectives posit that individuals have higher self-esteem when their values match the values of the sociocultural environment in which they live. The current study tested this hypothesis by examining the associations between value congruence and self-esteem in a large-scale sample in the United States ( N = 48,563). Multilevel response surface analyses revealed no evidence of value congruence effects on self-esteem, such that the agreement between individual- and state-level values did not positively predict self-esteem for any of the 10 basic values. Instead, we found positive (stimulation, security) and negative (conformity) linear associations between individual-level values and self-esteem. We also found positive curvilinear relationships between individual-level achievement and tradition values and self-esteem, and negative curvilinear relationships between individual-level self-direction, hedonism, power, benevolence, and universalism values and self-esteem. In addition, state-level values moderated the relationship between values and self-esteem for tradition, universalism, and conformity values. In federal states with stronger endorsement of tradition values, individuals’ tradition values were more positively associated with self-esteem. In contrast, in states with stronger endorsement of universalism values, individuals’ universalism values were more negatively associated with self-esteem. Lastly, individuals’ conformity values were negatively associated with self-esteem, particularly in states with weaker endorsement of conformity values.

Multiculturalism, Culture Mixing, and Prejudice: Effects of Priming Chinese Diversity Models Among Hong Kong University Students

In two studies, we investigated how Hong Kong university students reacted to descriptions of China as multicultural vs. assimilatory, examining effects on emotions, prejudice toward Mainland Chinese, attitudes toward Hong Kong/China culture mixing, and cultural identities. Study 1 compared a multicultural priming condition to a control condition and found that the multiculturalism prime significantly reduced desire to socially distance from Mainland Chinese. Study 2 compared multiculturalism, assimilation, or control primes' effects, and found that the multiculturalism prime, through increased positive emotions, indirectly reduced social distancing from Mainland Chinese and disgust toward culture mixing, and increased Chinese ethnic identity and multicultural identity styles; the assimilation prime had the opposite indirect effects through increasing negative emotions. Results show new evidence of the importance of emotion in how non-immigrant regional groups, who are both minority and majority culture members, react to different diversity models. Multicultural frames increased positive emotions, with downstream positive effects on both intergroup attitudes and integrated identities.

Well-being as a function of person-country fit in human values

It is often assumed that incongruence between individuals' values and those of their country is distressing, but the evidence has been mixed. Across 29 countries, the present research investigated whether well-being is higher if people's values match with those of people living in the same country or region. Using representative samples, we find that person-country and person-region value congruence predict six well-being measures (e.g., emotional well-being, relationship support; N = 54,673). Crucially, however, value type moderates whether person-country fit is positively or negatively associated with well-being. People who value self-direction, stimulation, and hedonism more and live in countries and regions where people on average share these values report lower well-being. In contrast, people who value achievement, power, and security more and live in countries and regions where people on average share these values, report higher well-being. Additionally, we find that people who moderately value stimulation report the highest well-being.

Societal-level utility value strengthens the relationship between student-level utility value and achievement: A person-culture fit perspective

BACKGROUND

Expectancy-value theory posits that higher levels of utility-value yield better achievement outcomes. Much of the existing research on utility value has focused on the individual as the unit of analysis. Person-culture fit theory, however, suggests that it is also important to consider the fit between the person and the broader society one is embedded in. The greater the fit, the more optimal outcomes ensue. However, to our knowledge past studies have not examined utility value from a person-culture fit perspective.

AIMS

This study aimed to examine whether person-culture fit in utility value, defined as the match between the student's and the society's utility value perceptions, is associated with more optimal outcomes. More specifically, we examined (1) how utility value predicted achievement and (2) whether societal-level utility value changed the magnitude of the relationship between student-level utility value and achievement.

SAMPLE

We used the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 data provided by 502,261 15-year-old students from 73 countries/societies.

METHODS

Multilevel random-slopes structural equation modelling was used.

RESULTS

Across all societies, students with higher utility value had better achievement. Moreover, in societies where schooling is highly valued, students' utility value was a stronger predictor of achievement in reading, math, and science confirming our person-culture fit hypothesis.

CONCLUSION

These findings signify the importance of person-culture fit in utility value. It also has important implications for motivation research by demonstrating the need to take the broader societal context into account and moving beyond an exclusive focus on the individual student as the unit of analysis.