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.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I., & Vohs, K. D. (2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyles? Psychological science in the Public Interest, 4, 1–44.
Bettencourt, B. A., & Dorr, N. (1997). Collective self-esteem as a mediator of the relationship between allocentrism and subjective well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 955–964.
Bosson, J. K., Swann, W. B., Jr., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2000). Stalking the perfect measure of implicit self-esteem: the blind men and the elephant revisited? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 631–643.
Chang, W. C., Osman, M. M., Tong, E. M., & Tan, D. (2011). Self-construal and subjective wellbeing in two ethnic communities in Singapore. Psychology, 2, 63–70.
Cheng, H., & Furnham, A. (2003). Personality, self-esteem, and demographic predictions of happiness and depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 921–942.
Cheung, P. C., & Lau, S. (1985). Self-esteem: its relationship to the family and school social environments among Chinese adolescents. Youth and Society, 16(4), 438–56.
Christopher, J. C. (1999). Situating psychological well-being: exploring the cultural roots of its theory and research. Journal of Counseling and Development, 77, 141–152.
Crocker, J., & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: the self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review, 96, 608–630.
Crocker, J., Luhtanen, R., Blaine, B., & Broadnax, S. (1994). Collective self-esteem and psychological well-being among white, black, and Asian college students. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 503–513.
Cross, S. E. (1995). Self-construals, coping, and stress in cross-cultural adaptation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 26, 673–697.
Cross, S. E., Bacon, P. L., & Morris, M. L. (2000). The relational-interdependent self-construal and relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 791–808.
Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542–575.
Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: the science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34–43.
Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(2), 276–302.
Gore, J. S., Cross, S. E., & Morris, M. L. (2006). Let’s be friends: relational self- construal and the development of intimacy. Personal Relationships, 13, 83–102.
Gudykunst, W. B., Matsumoto, Y., Ting-Toomey, S., Nishida, T., Kim, K., & Heyman, S. (1996). The influence of cultural individualism-collectivism, self construals, and individual values on communication styles across cultures. Human Communication Research, 22, 510–543.
He, F., Cao, R., Feng, Z., Guan, H., & Peng, J. (2013). The impacts of dispositional optimism and psychological resilience on the subjective well-being of burn patients: a structural equation modelling analysis. PLoS ONE, 8(12), e82939.
Heine, S. J., Lehman, D. R., Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1999). Is there a universal need for positive self-regard? Psychological Review, 106, 766–794.
Kim, M. S., Hunter, J. E., Miyahara, A., Horvath, A. M., Bresnahan, M., & Yoon, H. J. (1996). Individual-vs. culture-level dimensions of individualism and collectivism: effects on preferred conversational styles. Communication Monographs, 63, 29–49.
Kwan, V. S., Bond, M. H., & Singelis, T. M. (1997). Pancultural explanations for life satisfaction: adding relationship harmony to self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 1038–1051.
Li, H. Z., Zhang, Z., Bhatt, G., & Yum, Y. O. (2006). Rethinking culture and self-construal: China as a middle land. The Journal of Social Psychology, 146(5), 591–610.
Lu, L. (2005). In pursuit of happiness: the cultural psychological study of SWB. Chinese Journal of Psychology, 47, 99–112.
Lu, L., Gilmour, R., Kao, S. F., Weng, T. H., Hu, C. H., Chern, J. G., & Shih, J. B. (2001). Two ways to achieve happiness: when the east meets the west. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 1161–1174.
Luhtanen, R., & Crocker, J. (1992). A collective self-esteem scale: self-evaluation of one’s social identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 302–318.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1998). The cultural psychology of personality. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29, 63–87.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University.
Singelis, T. M. (1994). The measurement of independent and interdependent self-construals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 580–591.
Singelis, T. M. (2000). Some thoughts on the future of cross-cultural social psychology. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31(1), 76–91.
Singelis, T. M., Bond, M. H., Sharkey, W. F., & Lai, C. S. Y. (1999). Unpacking culture’s influence on self-esteem and embarrassability. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 30, 315–341.
Triandis, H. C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506–520.
Triandis, H. C., & Gelfand, M. J. (1998). Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 118–128.
Zhang, L. (2005). Prediction of Chinese life satisfaction: contribution of collective self-esteem. International Journal of Psychology, 40(3), 189–200.
Zhang, J., Miao, D., Sun, Y., Xiao, R., Ren, L., Xiao, W., & Peng, J. (2013). The impacts of attributional styles and dispositional optimism on subject well-being: a structural equation modelling analysis. Social Indicators Research. doi:10.1007/s11205-013-0520-7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Xiaobo Yu and Ziheng Zhou contributed equally to this work
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yu, X., Zhou, Z., Fan, G. et al. Collective and Individual Self-Esteem Mediate the Effect of Self-Construals on Subjective Well-Being of Undergraduate Students in China. Applied Research Quality Life 11, 209–219 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-014-9362-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-014-9362-y