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Culture, Ethnicity, and Emotional Distress Measures

The Role of Self-Construal and Self-Enhancement

University of Massachusetts, Boston, g4479vnora{at}umbsky.cc.umb.edu

S. Michael Kalick

University of Massachusetts, Boston

Research suggests that Asians consistently score higher than European Americans on measures of emotional distress. Extending previous research, the current study found that self-report measures of depression, social avoidance and distress, and fear of negative evaluation were positively related to a self-report measure of interdependent self-construal, negatively related to a self-report measure of independent self-construal, or both. Furthermore, distress measures varied inversely with relative self-enhancement, an indigenous constituent of the independent self but not of the interdependent self. Results suggest that certain commonly used measures of depression and social anxiety may tend to equate the moderately self-enhancing goals of an independent self with mental health, whereas responses reflecting culturally prescribed goals of an interdependent self may be seen as indicating emotional distress. The cultural appropriateness of standardized measures of emotional distress when applied to Asians was raised as a concern.

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