Cross-cultural Longitudinal Study Research Articles

Superordinate identities and self-transcendent emotions: Longitudinal study in Spain and Chile.

Recent studies suggest that identification with all humanity (IWAH), apart from being related to universalistic values, could also be related to self-transcendent emotions (STE). In this scenario, the general objective of this cross-cultural longitudinal study is to examine the relationship between identification with proximate categories (i.e., community and country) and superordinate one (all humanity), and their association with positive self-oriented and STEs during a traumatic global phenomenon such as COVID-19 pandemics. Additionally, we explore variations regarding the patterns of those associations in different cultural contexts (Chile and Spain) and examine whether they change among two different time points (T1-T2). The total sample was composed of 403 participants, of whom 224 were residents in Chile (M = 39.25, SD = 12.56; range 18-71 years; 49.6% women) and 179 were residents in Spain (M = 36.35, SD = 12.12; range 18-68 years; 59.8% women). Data collection was carried out in September (T1) and November (T2) 2020, through online surveys administered via Survey Monkey® platform. Overall, results show, as expected, greater identification with proximate categories rather than superordinate ones, and an association between STEs and IWAH, but also with national and community identification. IWAH, but not STEs decreased significantly (T1-T2) in both countries. Thereafter, these emotional and behavioral responses decline as a symptom of growing fatigue with the pandemic situation, and also reflect a shift from broader to more local concerns. Analysis regarding comparisons between countries indicated higher levels of identification with community and with all humanity in Spain and with country in Chile. The results are discussed in the context of new developments in studies on IWAH.

Social relationship quality, depression and inflammation: A cross-cultural longitudinal study in the United States and Tokyo, Japan.

Depression is an illness with biological, psychological, and social underpinnings, which may include the interplay of inflammation, psychological traits, stress, social relationships, and cultural background. This work examines the prospective associations between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms, and between social relationship quality and inflammatory outcomes in two distinct cultures. Data were obtained from two longitudinal, prospective cohort studies: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), and Midlife Development in Japan (MIDJA) between 2004 and 2010. One thousand three hundred and twenty-seven community-based adults were included in analyses, 1,054 from the United States and 273 from Tokyo, Japan. Depressive symptoms (measured by the CES-D Depression Scale) and inflammation (measured by blood sample concentrations of the inflammatory biomarkers interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein) were the outcomes. Social relationship quality was the predictor. Culture, trait independence and interdependence, and psychosocial stressors were examined as moderators of the link between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms. Higher social relationship quality was associated with lower depressive symptoms in the United States (β = -6.15, p < .001), but not in Japan (β = -1.25, p = .390). Social relationship quality had no association with inflammation. Psychosocial stressors moderated the link between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms in both the United States (β = -0.39, p = .001) and Tokyo (β = -0.55, p = .001), such that social relationship quality acted as a buffer against depressive symptoms as psychosocial stress increased. Improving the perceived quality of social relationships appears to be a stronger target for depression interventions in the United States than in Tokyo, Japan.

Development of approximate number sense across the elementary school years: A cross-cultural longitudinal study.

In recent years, there has been growing interest among researchers in exploring approximate number sense (ANS)-the ability to estimate and discriminate quantities without the use of symbols. Despite the growing number of studies on ANS, there have been no cross-cultural longitudinal studies to estimate both the development of ANS and the cross-cultural differences in ANS growth trajectories. In this study, we aimed to estimate the developmental trajectories of ANS from the beginning of formal education to the end of elementary school in two countries, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, which have similar organization of their educational systems but differences in socioeconomic status (SES) and in the results of large-scale educational assessments. To assess the developmental trajectories of ANS, we used a four-wave longitudinal study with 416 participants from two countries and applied the mixed effect growth approach and the latent class growth approach. Our analysis revealed that the rate of growth in ANS accuracy was higher for the Russian sample than for the Kyrgyz sample and that this difference remained significant even after controlling for fluid intelligence. We identified two latent classes of growth trajectories: the first class had a significant growth in ANS, whereas the second class had no growth. Comparing the distribution of latent classes within the two countries revealed that there was a significantly larger proportion of schoolchildren from the second class in Kyrgyzstan than in Russia.

Study Addiction: A Cross-Cultural Longitudinal Study Examining Temporal Stability and Predictors of Its Changes.

Background and aims“Study addiction” has recently been conceptualized as a behavioral addiction and defined within the framework of work addiction. Using a newly developed measure to assess this construct, the Bergen Study Addiction Scale (BStAS), the present study examined the 1-year stability of study addiction and factors related to changes in this construct over time, and is the first longitudinal investigation of study addiction thus far.MethodsThe BStAS and the Ten Item Personality Inventory were administered online together with questions concerning demographics and study-related variables in two waves. In Wave 1, a total of 2,559 students in Norway and 2,177 students in Poland participated. A year later, in Wave 2, 1,133 Norwegians and 794 Polish, who were still students completed the survey.ResultsThe test–retest reliability coefficients for the BStAS revealed that the scores were relatively stable over time. In Norway, scores on the BStAS were higher in Wave 2 than in Wave 1, whereas in Poland, the reverse pattern was observed. Learning time outside classes at Wave 1 was positively related to escalation of study addiction symptoms over time in both samples. Being female and scoring higher on neuroticism was related to an increase in study addiction in the Norwegian sample only.ConclusionsStudy addiction appears to be temporally stable, and the amount of learning time spent outside classes predicts changes in study addiction 1 year later.

The relationship of modern health worries to non-specific physical symptoms and perceived environmental sensitivity: A study combining self-reported and general practice data

ObjectiveThe present study investigates the association of modern health worries (MHW) with self-reported as well as general practitioner (GP)-registered non-specific physical symptoms (NSPS), medication use, alternative therapy consultations, sleep quality and quality of life. The interrelation between MHW, general environmental sensitivity and the aforementioned outcomes is also explored. MethodsSelf-reported questionnaires and data from electronic medical records from 21 general practices in The Netherlands were combined in a sample of 5933 adult participants. ResultsThe majority of the participants reported increased worries about potential health effects from environmental exposures. The highest worry scores were reported by people who perceived themselves as more vulnerable to environmental stressors. After adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics and diagnosed psychiatric morbidity, higher MHW were significantly associated with increased self-reported prevalence and duration of NSPS, symptom-related healthcare utilization, GP-registered NSPS, alternative therapy consultations and lower sleep quality and quality of life. These associations were statistically mediated by perceived environmental sensitivity. No association was observed between worries and GP-registered medication prescriptions. ConclusionModern health worries are very common in the general population. They are associated with self-reported as well as clinically defined NSPS and as such might play a key role in the process of developing and maintaining environmental sensitivities and related symptoms. A large cross-cultural longitudinal study would help to determine important aspects such as temporal precedence and stability of MHW and the relevant psychosocial context within which symptomatic conditions occur.

Spiritual coping of older persons in Malta and Australia (part 2).

Part I presented the research methodology and the quantitative findings of this descriptive sequential explanatory study. Part 2 will discuss the qualitative findings that explain the impact of the use of spiritual coping strategies on institutionalised older persons. Participants were recruited from six institutions in Malta and Australia: four private homes (two in Australia, n=30; two in Malta, n=43) and two state residences in Malta (n=64). The residents (n=137; 103 women, 34 men), aged 72.8 years (mean) were all Roman Catholics, mobile and with a minimal residence of 6 months. The quantitative data (phase I) were collected by the Maltese version of the Spiritual Coping scale (SCS) ( Baldacchino and Buhagiar, 2003 ) while the qualitative data were collected through audiotaped face-to-face interviews (n=42) (phase II) and three focus groups (n=23) (phase III). The qualitative data generated three main themes, namely: self-empowerment through connectedness with God, self, others and nature; belongingness to the residence; and the finding of meaning and purpose in life or the perceived afterlife. Recommendations were made for integration of spirituality into nursing education and clinical practice; more frequent participation in the socio-religious activities at ward level; self-awareness exercises and support groups; and further crosscultural longitudinal studies.

Learning from Cultural Shocks: A Cross-cultural Longitudinal Study of Expatriate Creativity

Adopting a dynamic view of events, this study addresses two critical questions regarding expatriates’ cultural intelligence (CQ) and job creativity. First, how should expatriates respond to cultural shocks in order to be more culturally intelligent over time? Second, what is the relationship between expatriates’ CQ and their job creativity in the host country? Analyses of a longitudinal cross-cultural dataset indicate that in the presence of more severe cultural shocks, expatriates’ downward counterfactual thinking was less negatively related to their CQ, whereas expatriates’ upward counterfactual thinking was more positively associated with CQ. Moreover, CQ mediated the joint effects of cultural shock severity and downward/upward counterfactual thinking on expatriate job creativity. These findings have significant theoretical and practical implications for developing expatriate CQ and creativity.

The Changes of Cerebral Morphology Related to Aging in Taiwanese Population

A cross-sectional study with the 3-dimensional (3D) MRI reconstruction technique was conducted to investigate cerebral complexity changes related to age differences in native Taiwanese population. In our sample of 85 participants aged between 25 and 81, age was associated with gradual ventricular expansion. A nonlinear quadratic relationship between white matter volume and age was found overall in the brain. Widespread age-related reduction in white matter was detected from late adulthood onwards. However, no significant age-related changes in the cortex and whole brain volume were determined throughout adulthood. These findings provided information in describing brain structural complexity, which might in the future serve as an objective diagnostic index or as a predictive parameter for neurological diseases. Our method then may be used for cross-cultural longitudinal studies to evaluate the effect of disease, environment and aging on the brain.

Attrition biases in a study of Euro-American and African-American marriages.

Based on survey data from 174 Euro-American and 199 African-American newlywed couples, this study analyzed attrition biases by comparing first-year responses of couples who stayed in the study into its third year (133 Euro-American and 115 African-American couples) with responses from the initial sample. Stayers--who were more likely than leavers to be better educated, wealthier, and Euro-American--tended to report happier, more affirming, more communicative marriages. For stayers, compared to a random subsample of the original sample, first-year marital happiness also correlated significantly less strongly with first-year reports of receiving affirmation from a spouse, having an unsupportive spouse, and engaging in marital conflict. Further, race differences in predictors of happiness for the initial sample were not evident among stayers, perhaps due to smaller variances in reported marital happiness and frequency of conflict for African-American stayers compared to African Americans in the original sample. Methodological implications for cross-cultural longitudinal studies are discussed.

The Development of Problem Solving Capacities in the Domain of Technics: Results from a Cross-Cultural Longitudinal Study

AbstractA longitudinal study with three yearly points of measurement was carried out in order to investigate the individual basis of creative achievement in the technical domain. This cross-cultural investigation included elected parallel samples of German and Chinese high school students in grades five and seven with subsamples of male and female subjects of high intelligence and average intelligence. The test battery included several scales for measuring convergent and divergent aspects of reasoning and knowledge. Cultural differences in convergent (favoring the Chinese sample) and divergent reasoning (favoring the Germans) were found. Highly intelligent subjects scored higher than subjects of average intelligence in most scales. Age and sex-specific trends in the development of abilities and activities related to technical creativity were observed in both cultures with gender differences being more pronounced in Germany. Cultural differences in the conceptions of creativity as well as further implicati...

Personality Development in Two Cultures, a Cross-Cultural Longitudinal Study of School Children in Mexico and the United States (Book)

Personality Development in Two Cultures, a Cross-Cultural Longitudinal Study of School Children in Mexico and the United States (Book)

Book Reviews

International Journal of PsychologyVolume 12, Issue 1 p. 65-68 Book Reviews Book Reviews First published: February 1977 https://doi.org/10.1080/00207597708247376AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Abstract WOBER, M. Psychology in Africa. London: International African Institute, 1975. HOLTZMAN, W. H., DIAZ-GUERRERO, R. & SWARTZ, J. D. Personality Development in Two Cultures: A Cross-Cultural Longitudinal Study of School Children in Mexico and the United States. Austin and London: University of Texas Press, 1975. Volume12, Issue1February 1977Pages 65-68 RelatedInformation