Collective and Individual Self-Esteem Mediate the Effect of Self-Construals on Subjective Well-Being of Undergraduate Students in China

Abstract

Human psychology and behavior are influenced by culture. Self-construals reflect the individualism-collectivism dimension at the level of individual personality. The current study aimed to explore how self-construals affect subjective well-being (SWB) in China, which has a collectivist culture. Chinese undergraduates (N = 442) participated in this study. They responded to the self-construal scale, Rosenberg self-esteem scale, collective self-esteem scale and measures of SWB. The results suggested that the type of self-construal significantly predicted SWB. Moreover, an individual’s self-esteem completely mediated the impact of independent self-construal on SWB, whereas interdependent self-construal influenced SWB directly, as well as indirectly though collective self-esteem. In addition, collective self-esteem promoted individual self-esteem, which in turn further stimulated SWB. These findings extend prior reports and shed light on how individual differences in self-construal affect SWB.