Gender
Differences in the Basis and Level of Adult Self-Esteem: A Cross-Cultural
Perspectiv
D. Watkins, J. Yau, J. Fleming, Z.N. Davis, A. Tam, A.M. Juhasz & A. Walker |
Six
hundred and nine middle class adults from the USA, Hong Kong, and
Lithuania were asked to rate the importance of and satisfaction with
twenty different aspects of their self. As predicted the American
sample reported the highest global self-esteem. Participants from
all three countries tended to be more satisfied with self-components
they considered more important. This trend as predicted was stronger
for the highly individualist American participants. Within all three
countries there was strong agreement between the sexes about the
salience and satisfaction of these components for the self. However,
between country effects were much stronger than gender effects. Components
considered to be aspects of the Interdependent self tended to be
rated more salient and to be a greater source of satisfaction than
aspects of the Independent self in all three countries. Across countries,
the US and Hong Kong response patterns were very similar but the
Lithuanians differed markedly, perhaps surprisingly rating as relatively
more important a number of individualistic aspects of the self. Overall
the results question the claims in the literature that gender differences
in the nature of self-concept generalize across cultures. Key words: self-concept, gender, cross-cultural |