Cultural Differences in Coping Among New Zealand Adolescents

Abstract

The present study was conducted to determine whether idiocentrism and allocentrism would moderate the relationship between coping strategies and psychological maladjustment in three cultural groups of New Zealand adolescents. Self-report data assessing idiocentrism, allocentrism, coping strategies, and psychological maladjustment were collected from 566 adolescents. Māori adolescents reported higher levels of allocentrism than did either European New Zealanders (ENZ) or Asian New Zealanders (ANZ). Māori and ANZ teenagers reported higher levels of rumination than did ENZ. Rumination and externalization were found to be positively related, and social support was negatively related to psychological maladjustment. Moderation analysis results showed that in Māori youth idiocentrism was found to exacerbate the association among rumination, externalization, and problem solving with maladjustment. Similar but weaker findings were obtained for ANZ youth. These findings suggest that idiocentrism may have a deleterious association with coping strategies employed by members of collectivist populations. In contrast, for all youth, allocentrism buffered the relationship between rumination and maladjustment.