Wellness of children in Israel and the United States: A preliminary examination of culture and well-being

Abstract

Several studies have stressed the importance and relevance for understanding the impact of culture in shaping adolescents’ world and well-being. This study was undertaken as a preliminary cross-cultural examination of wellness in two samples including 629 children in the United States and 240 children in Israel. The Indivisible Self, an evidence-based, multidimensional, holistic wellness model by Myers and Sweeney was chosen as the conceptual foundation for the research. The two groups differed significantly on three of five second-order factors, with Israeli students scoring higher on Coping and Social Self factors and US students scoring higher on the Essential Self. Significant main effects were observed for differences in gender but not age. Follow-up analyses revealed age differences among the Israeli students on three factors (Creative, Essential, and Physical Self) plus Total Wellness, with younger students scoring higher, and gender differences among the US students on three factors. Implications for counseling services and for further research are discussed.