Controlling for culture-specific response bias using ipsatization and response style indicators: Family orientation in seventeen cultures and two generations

Within-subject standardization (ipsatization) has been advocated as a possible means to control for culture-specific responding (e.g., Fisher, 2004). However, the consequences of different kinds of ipsatization procedures for the interpretation of mean differences remain unclear. The current study compared several ipsatization procedures with ANCOVA-style procedures using response style indicators for the construct of family orientation with data from 14 cultures and two generations from the Value-of-Children-(VOC)-Study (4135 dyads). Results showed that within-subject centering/standardizing across all Likert-scale items of the comprehensive VOC-questionnaire removed most of the original cross-cultural variation in family orientation and lead to a non-interpretable pattern of means in both generations. Within-subject centering/standardizing using a subset of 19 unrelated items lead to a decrease to about half of the original effect size and produced a theoretically meaningful pattern of means. A similar effect size and similar mean differences were obtained when using a measure of acquiescent responding based on the same set of items in an ANCOVA-style analysis. Additional models controlling for extremity and modesty performed worse, and combinations did not differ from the acquiescence-only model. The usefulness of different approaches to control for uniform response styles (scalar equivalence not given) in cross- cultural comparisons is discussed.

Culture and the social context of health inequalities

There has been a great deal of interest and debate recently concerning the linkages between inequality and health cross-nationally. Exposures to social and health inequalities likely vary as a consequence of different cultural contexts. It is important to guide research by a theoretical perspective that includes cultural and social contexts cross-nationally. If inequality affects health only under specific cultural conditions, this could explain why some of the literature that compares different societies finds no evidence of a relationship between inequality and health in certain countries. A theoretical framework is presented that combines sociological theory with constructs from cultural psychology in order to identify pathways that might lead from cultural dimensions to health inequalities. Three analyses are carried out. The first analysis explores whether there is a relationship between cultural dimensions at the societal level and self-rated health at the individual level. The findings suggest that different cultural norms at the societal level can produce both social and health inequalities, but the effects on health may differ depending on the socio-cultural context. The second analysis tests the hypothesis that health is affected by the density of social networks in a society, levels of societal trust, and inequality. The results suggest that commonly used measures of social cohesion and inequality may have both contextual and compositional effects on health in a large number of countries, and that societal measures of social cohesion and inequality interact with individual measures of social participation, trust, and income, moderating their effects on health. The third analysis explores whether value systems associated with vertical individualist societies may lead to health disparities because of their stigmatizing effects. I test the hypothesis that, within vertical individualist societies, subjective well-being will be affected by a social context where competition and the Protestant work ethic are valued, mediated by inequality. The hypothesis was not supported by the available cross-national data, most likely because of inadequate measures, missing data, and the small sample of vertical individualist countries. The overall findings demonstrate that cultural differences are important contextual factors that should not be overlooked when examining the causes of health inequalities. ^

Concept and measurement: the cultural borders of meaning

Paper submitted to the Sixth International Conference on Social Science Methodology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 16-20, 2004.

Missing mixed mode: elemental structures

One of the main concerns is the nature of the missing values. Let’s consider extremes for simplicity. If missing at random we have not to care about. But if missing shows structures that covariate with substantive variables we have to make decisions. There are, in fact, several options to take. We are speaking about one country, one mode. But if you go cross-cultural (or more precisely, cross-state nations) and mixed modes many questions raise. For example, the simple one. What are we comparing? Reports and books usually go straight into variables distributions and coefficient comparisons. This is possible because the annalist presume "tabula rasa" effect from data collections procedures. But this is not, frequently, the real situation. This paper will expose the mixed missing mode imprint in international surveys. This will help to evaluate how deal with this problem. Also, to consider the real meaning of observed cross-national differences.

The Danish Flexicurity Model - a Lesson for the US? ACES Working Paper No. 2, May 2007

Within recent years, increasing international competition has caused an increase in job transitions worldwide. Many countries find it difficult to manage these transitions in a way that ensures a match between labour and demand. One of the countries that seem to manage the transitions in a successful way is Denmark, where unemployment has been dropping dramatically over the last decade without a drop in job quality. This success is ascribed the so-called Danish flexicurity model, where an easy access to hiring and firing employees (flexibility) is combined with extensive active and passive labour market policies (security). The Danish results have gained interest not only among other European countries, where unemployment rates remain high, but also in the US, where job loss is often related to lower job quality. It has, however, been subject to much debate both in Europe and in the US, whether or not countries with distinctively different political-economic settings can learn from one another. Some have argued that cultural differences impose barriers to successful policy transfer, whereas others see it as a perfectly rational calculus to introduce 'best practices' from elsewhere. This paper presents a third strategy. Recent literature on policy transfer suggests that successful cross national policy transfer is possible, even across the Atlantic, but that one must be cautious in choosing the form, content and level of the learning process. By analysing and comparing the labour market policies and their settings in Denmark and the US in detail, this paper addresses the question, what and how the US can learn from the Danish model. Where the US and Denmark share a high degree of flexibility, they differ significantly on the level of security. This also means that the Danish budget for active and passive labour market policies is significantly higher than the American, and it seems unlikely that political support for the introduction of Danish levels of security in the US can be established. However, the paper concludes that there is a learning potential between the US and Demnark in the different local level efficiency of the money already spent. A major reason for the Danish success has been the introduction of tailor made initiatives to the single displaced worker and a stronger coordination between local level actors. Both of which are issues, where a lack of efficiency in the implementation of American active labour market policies has been reported.

Comparison of PRC and Vietnam's Responses to the Elimination of U.S. Textile and Apparel Quotas: Economic and Cultural Perspectives. ACES Working Paper No. 1, 2007

International trade in textiles and apparel has, as of January 1, 2005, been set free from the very intricate Multi-Fiber textile and apparel quota Arrangement (MFA). This event has raised many uncertainties about the new international trade climate and has placed enormous pressure on China as the expected clear cut beneficiary of this liberalization.' Other countries considered to be major contenders include Vietnam which also has a large population employed in the textile and apparel (T&A) sector. Since the old quota system had provided a certain degree of market certainty to competing T&A producers, will the new free trade environment lead to a shake out where mass producers with large economies of scale dominate the new reality? The removal of T&A quotas will create opportunities for Vietnam and China along with other developing countries, but it will also expose them to additional competition from each other. The outcome of this competition will depend on the demand in the US, the ability of the exporting countries to differentiate their exports and on their ability to transfer additional resources to expand domestic output in the direction of the new 'free market signals' and away from rent seeking objectives. Obviously, exporting countries that adjust to this new environment quickly will improve their competitiveness, and will be the new beneficiaries of a quota free international trade in textiles and apparel. This paper attempts to shed some light on the differences and similarities in the responses of Chinese and Vietnamese T&A sectors to this new environment. It first focuses on the demand side attempting to determine whether or not Chinese and Vietnamese T&A items, formally under quota control, are substitutes or compliments. On the supply side, the paper focuses on institutional differences between each country's T&A sectors, the different domestic government policies that have contributed to their growth and the unique cultural differences which will determine the future progress in each country's T&A sectors.

Family Models of In(ter)dependence: Cultural Change and the Question of Universal Needs

I will start by discussing some aspects of Kagitcibasi’s Theory of Family Change: its current empirical status and, more importantly, its focus on universal human needs and the consequences of this focus. Family Change Theory’s focus on the universality of the basic human needs of autonomy and relatedness and its culture-level emphasis on cultural norms and family values as reflecting a culture’s capacity for fulfilling its members’ respective needs shows that the theory advocates balanced cultural norms of independence and interdependence. As a normative theory it therefore postulates the necessity of a synthetic family model of emotional interdependence as an alternative to extreme models of total independence and total interdependence. Generalizing from this I will sketch a theoretical model where a dynamic and dialectical process of the fit between individual and culture and between culture and universal human needs and related social practices is central. I will discuss this model using a recent cross-cultural project on implicit theories of self/world and primary/secondary control orientations as an example. Implications for migrating families and acculturating individuals are also discussed.

Phobic anxiety in 11 nations: Part I: Dimensional constancy of the five-factor model

The Fear Survey Schedule-III (FSS-III) was administered to a total of 5491 students in Australia, East Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Venezuela, and submitted to the multiple group method of confirmatory analysis (MGM) in order to determine the cross-national dimensional constancy of the five-factor model of self-assessed fears originally established in Dutch, British, and Canadian samples. The model comprises fears of bodily injury-illness-death, agoraphobic fears, social fears, fears of sexual and aggressive scenes, and harmless animals fears. Close correspondence between the factors was demonstrated across national samples. In each country, the corresponding scales were internally consistent, were intercorrelated at magnitudes comparable to those yielded in the original samples, and yielded (in 93% of the total number of 55 comparisons) sex differences in line with the usual finding (higher scores for females). In each country, the relatively largest sex differences were obtained on harmless animals fears. The organization of self-assessed fears is sufficiently similar across nations to warrant the use of the same weight matrix (scoring key) for the FSS-III in the different countries and to make cross-national comparisons feasible. This opens the way to further studies that attempt to predict (on an a priori basis) cross-national variations in fear levels with dimensions of national cultures. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Masculinity-femininity as a national characteristic and its relationship with national agoraphobic fear levels: Fodor's sex role hypothesis revitalized

Hofstede's dimension of national culture termed Masculinity-Femininity [Hofstede (1991). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill] is proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed agoraphobic fears. This prediction is based on the classical work of Fodor [Fodor (1974). In: V. Franks & V. Burtle (Eds.), Women in therapy: new psychotherapies for a changing society. New York: Brunner/Mazel]. A unique data set comprising 11 countries (total N = 5491 students) provided the opportunity of scrutinizing this issue. It was hypothesized and found that national Masculinity (the degree to which cultures delineate sex roles, with masculine or tough societies making clearer differentiations between the sexes than feminine or modest societies do) would correlate positively with national agoraphobic fear levels (as assessed with the Fear Survey Schedule-III). Following the correction for sex and age differences across national samples, a significant and large effect-sized national-level (ecological) r = +0.67 (P = 0.01) was found. A highly feminine society such as Sweden had the lowest, whereas the champion among the masculine societies, Japan, had the highest national Agoraphobic fear score. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transcultural properties of the Composite Scale of Morningness: The relevance of the "morning affect" factor

Morningness scales have been translated into several languages, but it lack of normative data and methodological differences make cross-cultural comparisons difficult. This study examines the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM) in samples from five countries: France (n = 627), Italy (n, = 702), Spain (n = 391), Thailand (n. = 503), and Australia (17 = 654). Strong national differences are identified. A quadratic relationship between age and CSM total score was apparent in the Australian data with a downward trend after age 35 yrs. There was no age effect in air), sample in the range from 18 to 29 yrs. Factor analysis identified a three-factor solution in all groups for both men and women. Tucker's congruence coefficients indicate that: (1) this solution is highly congruent between sexes in each culture, and (2) a morning affect factor is highly congruent between cultures. These results indicate there are national differences in factorial structure and that cut-off scores used to categorize participants as morning- and evening-types should be established for different cultural and age groups.

A comparison of body-image dissatisfaction and eating disturbance among Australian and Hong Kong women

The current cross-cultural study was designed to test the validity of a biopsychosocial mediation model which hypothesized that a variety of biological, psychological and social variables would have their mode of action upon eating disturbance through the mediation of body-image dissatisfaction. The biopsychosocial variables examined were body mass, self-esteem, weight-related teasing, previous dieting and sociocultural influences. Forty-eight Hong Kong and 100 Australian females aged 17-28 years were assessed. Results revealed no significant difference between the groups of women in levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disturbance; however, different variables in the biopsychosocial model appeared to have contributed to their predisposition to these conditions. The findings suggest that there appear to exist important cultural differences in various aspects of dieting and body image in young women. Implications for prevention, treatment and future research are discussed. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Predictors of cultural adjustment: Intergroup status relations and boundary permeability

We examined intergroup predictors of cultural adjustment among Asian international students in Australia. Sociostructural beliefs (status, legitimacy, and permeability) and initial adjustment were assessed (N = 113) at Time 1, and measures of adjustment were obtained (N = 80) at Time 2 eight weeks later. International students who perceived their cultural group to be relatively low in status experienced lower levels of psychological adjustment. Also, as expected, the effects of status were moderated by perceptions of both the permeability of intergroup boundaries and the legitimacy of the status differential. At high levels of legitimacy, perceptions of permeable group boundaries were associated with better psychological, sociocultural, and academic adjustment among international students perceiving their group to be low in status, but lower levels of adjustment among students who perceived their group to be high in status. At low levels of legitimacy, irrespective of group status position, perceived permeability was not related to adjustment.

The cultural facet of suicidal behaviour: Its importance and neglect

Culture is a central but debated concept in many disciplines and its complexity may become an even bigger source of argument in Suicidology. In spite of the intricacy of the study of this construct, the paper illustrates that various scholars have recognised the relevance of culture and ethnicity in the understanding of suicidal behaviour. The author provides evidence of the need to pay more attention to the meaning and interpretation of suicide in cross-cultural research and underlines the necessity to establish cultural-sensitive prevention strategies. The paper closes by providing methodological considerations and suggestions for future research on cultural aspects of suicidal behaviour.

Are country and culture values interchangeable? A case example using occupational stress and coping

Cross cultural research in occupational stress and coping has produced a wealth of knowledge. Although advances have been made, there are still problems to be solved. One of these problems is the confusion generated in the literature by researchers claiming that nation or country represents cultural values, and the use of the two terms interchangeably. It remains unclear whether this practice is correct. The present article reported on this by using 511 full-time employees from Australia, Singapore and Sri Lanka to study occupational stress and coping. Results revealed that cultural value paradigms (i.e. Individualism–Collectivism) were distributed across the three nations such that over 60% of participants were either high or low in both I–C paradigms. The findings also indicated that the relationship between cultural value paradigm and country impacted on stress and coping differently. The study shows that significant differences exist within countries as well as between countries, such that any attempt to equate ‘culture’ with ‘country’ becomes problematic. Therefore these findings established that country or nation is not the same as culture values and cannot be used interchangeably.