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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEPRESSION AND SOCIAL ANXIETY AMONG ASIAN AND EUROPEAN AMERICANS: THE ROLES OF SELF-DISCREPANCY, OPTIMISM, AND PESSIMISM

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillm ent o ftfrc Requirements fo r

the Degree Doctor ofPhilosophy in the Graduate

School o f The Ohio State University

B y

Erin E. Hardin, M_A.

The Ohio State University

2002

fYimmttti**-- Approved b y

Professor Frederick T . L . Leong, Adviser

Associate Professor Richard RnsscO Adviser Professor Robot M . Aikm Department o f Psychology

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT

Hlggps’ self discrepancy theory (1987) posits that discrepancies between actual

and ideal selves lead to depression while discrepancies between actual and ought selves

the self (e.g., Maifcus&Kitayama, 1991X and therefore may Lead to lim ited

conccptuafiTattions and treatments o f emotional distress among Asian Americans The

current study integrated cross-cultural conceptions o f the selfw ith the constructs o f self*

discrepancy and optimism/pessimism. Participants (148 Asian/Asian American and 193

non-Hispanic European American students) completed a measure o f self-discrepancy and a

demographic questionnaire at Time 1. Discrepancies between the Actual-Own self-guide

and Ideal, Ought, and Undesired selves, from Own and Other standpoints, were assessed.

A t tim e 2 , participants completed measures o f depression, social anxiety, seifeonstniai,

and optimism/pessimism. Asian /A sian American participants also completed measures

nfa jp nlhiratinii anH family m n flirt

Remits indicate that fc r European Americans, both Ideal and Undented sd£>

discrepancies were important predictors ofdepresskxt, while both Ideal and Ought self-

discrepancies were important predictors o f social anxiety. For Asian Americans, Undesired

seifcfiscrepancy was the single most useful predictor a£ depression, w hile botb Uhdesired

and Ought selfdiscrcpanries were important predictors o f social avoidance. Sdfconstrual

was a significant predictor o fsocial anxiety among both groups. For Asian Americans bet

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. notEuropean America re. lack o f opamismwas a significant predictor o f depression, even

a fte r co n tro llin g fo r levels o f pessim ism. fa add ition, optim ism a m i pessumsm we re fo und

to mediate the relationship between seif-discrepancy and emotional distress, suggesting

that seifkfiscfepandes may be a useful tool m affecting levels ofoptimijnn and pessimism.

Among Asian Americans, lower levels o f acculturation were associated w ith

higher levels o f depression. Lower levels o f perceived parental acculturation were

associated w ith higher iam iiy conflict and emotional distress. Further, fam ily conflict

mediated the relationship between parental acculturation and depression.

Counselors are encouraged to incorporate the concept o f the undesired seifutfo

nn nprimfgw* i»«fm rl n f nr m aHHitinnt n prrrimigm amnwg A««m Anmriraw*

leveis o f social anxiety and acculturatioo among Asian Americans

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I could not have completed this independent research prqcct without a great deal

o f interdependence. M y committee members have provided helpful comments and

thoughtfu l discussion throughout this process, despite the evcg-increasmg length o f this

document. I ana particularly grateful te the guidance and insight o f my advisor, Feed

Leong. In this project, as in so many others. he has helped me look through* broader

cultural lens and ask bigger questions. H b mentoring has helped me see m yselfa« a

m archer and envision a career in academia During the writing o f this dissertation, i was

especially grateful fo r the technological wonder that is e-m ail, which allowed ns to

exchange discussion and ideas about this dissertation, despite being on different continents.

Neitfaer this dissertation nor ray sanity might exist m then-current firm without the

interdependence I am blessed to share w ith my husband, Jcfit Hesparfced my interest in

this topic when he handed me ajournalaiticlebyE. Tory Higgins, sayin& “Yon might find

tfars interesting.’* Hours o fexcited reading and thinking later, my dissertation questions

were born. He has been a colleague, friend, cheerleader, editor, and aD-aroundsamty-saver

throughout this process. I look forward to sharing many more ideas w ith him in the years to

come.

I r r t r frir f»i« ama7 lng patiww alirii nay mnlrihufimiw

about the statistical analyses. From tfac early stages o f designing this research tfaougfr the

actual analyw»j he pmmiM help via agnail anrf jap m m thranglth i* an»h pagf* hr

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. whichever otter entity approved summer finding fo r him, allowing me to afibrd to consult

with K i» when I needed to most. Thankyouto Jennifer Jeffers, who was a tireless*

patient, and interested research assistant with the later data collection. I could not have

dona this (and everything else I was supposed to l) without her. I abo want to thank David

Tom for his willingness to be my presence in Columbus, copying and delivering tins

document and getting forms signed before tfae defense.

Beth Ciawfixd deserves many thanks fry sfaarmg her antt-proaastmatiait strategies

and friendship^ and for gifting me w ith “dissertating tunes." Finally, lam grateful to Am

DiFranco, whose music provided the soundtrack for the writing o f this dissertation. On the

days I just didn't have the energy or motivation to w rite, Ani was always there to remind

me that I am a righteous babe who is up to the challenge.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. VITA

October 4,1912 ------Bom-Bcthesda, Maryland

1 9 9 4 ...... B A . Psychology with honors, Grinncll College; Grinnell, EA intwrficwpKnaty i»wif wi>ntinn f o fhinw ff gtm lix

1996-199 7 ______University Fellow, The Ohio State University

1 9 9 7 -2 0 0 0 ------GnviuateTcacbing Associate, The Ohio State University

1 9 9 & -2 Q 0 0 ...... Psychology 100 Graduate Coordinator; The Ohio State Univesity

2 0 0 0 -2 0 0 1...... University Fellow, The Ohio State University

2 0 0 1 -2 0 0 2 ...... _ Pie-doctoral Intern, University o f Illin o is at Chicago Counseling C enter

PUBLICATIONS

1. Hudui,E.E>Leong;F.T.Lt,&Qstpow,S.H.(2001).CataitalRetat(vfty inthe CcncrntnafiTatioa o f Career Maturity. Journal oTVocationaJ Behavior. 5 8 .3 6 - 52.

2. Hardin, E .E T0'CannelLD.C^&Kowai> S. (199 S)l Reading aloud fio m Immp p h ie ami «tpfcalwtti>tmvtmr Pflaipwiinat M iumw fl>nn»n Journal rf toyrfmHwgiiMtic gi^wtfeh. 2T. 413-320.

3. Leoog; F.T. Chao, R_ IC, & Hardin, E. E. (2000). Asian American ad n kim iK A icscarck review to dispel the model minority myth. to R . Montemayor, G.

AAifc^^rfivenitom ctfigg ecwinmfe ami contort* fpp 179-207). Newbury Parfc,CA; Sage

v i

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 4. Leong, F. T . L. & Hardin, E. E. (2000). Critical incidents fiom the fatenaiftaral Sensitizer A tnunmgtool for cross-cultural career counseling. h M P o p e& C L IIfiio r (E&-L Exoeriential fhr tre p h in f c a n w CfwmpKng CoIumbUS,OH: National Career Development Association.

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field; Psychology

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS

A b s tra c t ...... i i

Acknowledgments ...... iv

V it a ...... v i

Lot of Tables ...... x i

List of Figures ...... x iv

Chapters;

1. Introduction ...... I

2. Literature Review...... 14

2.1 Traditional Asian Values ...... 15 2.1 J Filial Piety ...... 16 2.1.2 Interdependent Sci£Constnial______17 2.13 Traditional Family Structure ...... IS 2.1.4 Acculturation ...... 19 2.1.5 Summary...... 20 2 2 Self-discrepancy ...... 21 2 2 .1 Early Work...... 21 2 ^ 2 . Higgins’ (1987) Theory o f Self discrepancy ...... 23 2^2.1 Domains ofand standpoints on the self.______23 2.2^2 Availability and accessibility...... 25 2 2 2 2 Empirical evidence...... 27 2 2 2 33 2 2 .4 The Undcsned S e lf.______36 2 2 5 Sum m ary. ------42 2 2 Optimism / Pessimism and Depression Among Asian Americans______4 4 2.4 Culture and Emotional Distress------45 2.4.1 Cultural difference* in the experience and expression o f depression and anxiety. ------4 6 2 .4 .1 .1 TatfinKyofitaho______51 1 4 .1 2 O verlap o f an xiety and depression ______51 v n i

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Page 2.4.13 Somatratutt...... 53 2.43 Emotional Distress Among Asan Americans...... 5 7 2.43.1 Prevalence...... 58 2.433 Correlates and Predictors...... 61 2.432.1 Gender...... 61 34332 Social Factors...... 62 34333 Cognitive Factors. ------63 34334 Stressful Life Events...... 64 34335 Acculturation ...... 65 23 Conclusion...... ____ ... ____ 69

3. Pilot Study...... 72 3.1 Method...... 75 3.1.1 Participants...... 75 3.13 Measure...... 76 3.13 Procedure...... 78 3 3 Results...... 80 33 Summary and Condusiocs ...... 81

4. Primary Stucfy Method...... 83 4.1 Participants ...... „ ...... 83 43 Measures...... 84 43.1 Self discrepancy ...... 84 432 Depression...... 84 433 Anxiety...... 86 4 3 4 Pessimism / Optimism...... 87 435 Seifcoostrual...... 88 436 Acculturation...... 89 4 3 7 Perceived Parental Acculturation...... 90 43 8 Accumulative Conflict. ______91 43 Procedure...... 93

R esults...... 94 5.1 BetweeurGroups Differences...... 94 5.1.1 Between-Groups Differences in Emotional Distress______94 5 .I.1 .I Depression...... 94 5.1.13 Social Anxiety...... 95 5.13 S elf discrepancy and distress ------96 5.131 Replication of Higgins’ selfdiscrepancy findings- 98 5.131.1 Ought self-discrepancies...... 99 5.1313 Ideal self-discrepancy...... LOO 5.1313 Possible explanations fir the failure to replicate Higgins* findings...... 100 5.133 Uhdesiredselfdiscrepaticy anddepression ______105 5.133 Undesiredseffdiscrepancy and social anxiety...... 108 5.133 Summary o f results fir seffdiscrepaiicy. ______112 he

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 5.13 Seif-construai ...... 113 5.13.1 Seif-construal, self-discrepancy and distress...... 115 5.13.1.1 Ownself-discrepancy and independence.... 115 5.13.1.2 Other self-discrepancy and interdependence. 117 5.133 Summary o f results for seffconstruaL ...... 118 5.1.4 Optimism and Pesshnlsro...... 119 5.1.4.1 Optimism Pessimism, selfdiscrepancy...... 121 5.1.43 Summary o f findings regarding optimism and pessimism 125 53 WtfhinrGroup Differences Among Asian Americans ...... 126 53.1 Acculturation. ______127 52.1.1 Acculturation, self-discrepancy, and emotional distress 128 52.12 Acculturation and Distress...... 129 52.13 Parental Acculturation ...... 132 533 Family Conflict...... 132 533.1 Family Conflict, parental acculturation, and depression 132 5 3 3 3 Family conflict and S elf discrepancy...... 134 5 3 3 Summary o f withm-group differences ...... 1 3 5

6. Discussion...... 137 6.1 Future Research...... 149 62 Limitations...... 151 63 Conclusion...... 152

L is t o f References...... 155

Appendix ...... 164

Tables...... 165

| | I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES

Table Paye

1 Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for the depression and anxiety measures; by ethnicity «««* gender. ____...... ______165

2 Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for tbeselfdiscwpancy measures; by ethnicity and gender...... 166

3 Analysis o f variance for selFdiscrepancy ...... 167

4 Cbneiatioa matrix o f measures fbrtfae Asian Americans and European Americans ...... 160

5 Simple and partial correlations between Ideal and Ought self-discrepancy and measures o f

6 Summary o f hierarchical regression analyses predicting depression (CES-D Scores) from Ought, Ideal, and Undesired sdf-discrepancies...... 170

7 Summary o f hierarcbicai regression analyses predicting depression (CES-D Scores) from Undesired, Ideal, and Ought seifdtscrepancies. ______171

g Summary o f hierarchical regression analyses predicting social anxiety fiats Ideal. Ought, and Undesired s e lf discrepancies...... 172

9 Summary ofhicarchicaliegresirinn analyses predicting social anxiety from Undesired, Ought; and Heal s e lf discrepancies ______173

10 Means, standard deviations; and scale reliabilities forthc Sclf-Construal Scale (S C S ) b y eth n icity and gender. ______174

11 Summary ofhierarchicalregressianaaaj^ses exploring wbether Independent SelfCoratn ial moderates tbe refationsliy between Own S elfdtscrepancies and depressions* the Asian and European Americans------175

12 Summary ofhicrarchicat regression analyses exploring whether Independent SHEComfiwal moderates the relationship between Own S elfrfiscrepau ricr and social anxiety fo r the Asian and Furopcm Americans ______176

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table ? 3IB c

13 Summary o f hierarchical regression analyses exploring whether Independent SeifConstniai moderates the relationship between Own Selfdiscrepancies andsodalanxicty for the Asian and European Americans...... 177

14 Siimn— y o f hierarchical regression analyses exploring whether Interdependent SclEConstnia) moderates the relationship between Other StKHiwwpniMW anft ilqir^tn q fhf A«>ara Aim b m m __ 172

15 Sananasy o fhierarchical regression analyses exploring whether Srf£fiim«hmil whfinnttiip hrtwmai flttwf SeffdsKfepancies and social anxiety fix ' the Asian and European A m ericans...... 179

16 Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for the Extended Life Orientation Test (ELOT) by ethnicity and gender...... 120

17 Summary o f hierarchical regression analyses predicting depression and social anxiety from optimism and pessimism for Asian and European A m ericans...... 121

12 Summary o f hierarchical regression analysis predicting depression (CES-D) from Optimism, Pessimism, Ideal and Undesired S elf- Discrepancies...... 182

19 Summary o f hierarchical regression analysis predicting social avoidance (SAD) from optimism, pessimism, Ought and Undesired Sel&Disctepancies...... 123

20 Summary o f hierarchical regression analyses testing whether optimism and pessimism mediate the relationship between Undesired/Ideal self discrepancies and depression (CES-D Scores) among European and Asian Am ericans ...... _ 124

21 Summary o f hierarchical regression analyses testing whether optimism and pessimism mediate the relationship between Undesired/Ought self- discrepancies and social avoidance (SAD Scores) among European and Asian Americans...... 125

2 2 S o b cltcst results fo r the A sian Americans and European Am ericans to determine whether optimism/pessimism mediates the relationship between seifrtEscrepaacy distress...... „ 126

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table

23 Meaner standard deviations, and scale reliabilities on tbe Fam ily Conflict S afe (FCS) and mod ified Acculturation Ratii^s Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA-H) for the Asian American participants...... 187

24 identity moderates the relationship between Undesired self-discrepancy and depression (CES-D scores) or social avoidance (SAD scores) fo r tbe total Asian American sample...... 188

25 Gonrebtibas between variables for the Asian American OS dozens and residents...... „... ______...... 189

26 Summary ofregressioa analysis exploring the interaction between Asian and Western identification on depression (CES-D) for the Asian American US fitijww «wt pmimiqrf mmfcrtt _____ 1 9 0

27 Summary o f bierarcbical regression analysis predicting depression (CES-D scores) from fam ily conflict (combined FCS-Likclihood and FCS- Scriousncss scores) and perceptions o f parental acculturation fo r tbe Asian American US citizens / permanent residents______191

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES

Predicted Depression (CES-D) Scores o f Asian American US Citizens and Pcnrancitt Residents as a Function o f Acculturation......

xhr

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C H A PTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Cootiaiy to the "model m inority* myth that portrays Asian Americans as a

remarkably successful, well-adjusted m inority group, research has consistently found that

Asian Americans report higher levels o f emotional distress than European Americans

(Aldwin&Grcenberger, 1987; Okazaki, 1997; Uba, 1994). This mounting evidence that

Asian Americans do in fact suffer from emotional distress, perhaps to a greater degree than

European Americans, combined with the fact that Asian Americans tend to tm flcnifilizc

menial health services (Leong, 1994; S. Sue & Zane, 1987), indicates that the current

mcatai health system is failing to adequately serve the needs o f Asian Americans.

Some anthers have suggested that the culturally relative values inherent in

counseling are mcongroent w ith more traditional Asian values and contribute to the

tendency ftr Asian Americans to undesutilize and prematurely terminate mental health

services (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue; 1993; Leong, 1986; Leong, Wagner, & Tata, 1995; D.

W . Sue& D . Sue, 1990; Tata & Leong, 1994). S. Sue and Zane (1987) suggested that

con flicting cultural values and counselors* lack ofappropriatc cultural knowledge are

dctrimcutstocounsclo rcredibtlitybccanscthcy may lead the counselor to inappropriately

conceptualize tlm problem, to suggest culturally mcongroent interventions, and/or to

establish incompatible goals fo r treatment.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Tn |piBt mhnr^l fcnnmtprfg^ r»f wmriwnal iBthwa amnng Agtan

Ah m t m m rwiiw tn f! a«v< »»cMn^i>Tr «till IrBiwuyy little Bw awK MBiiimig

“HlfllKllpl <<««*»»«« anwng A«i«n Amwraiw fa« ffa'Uflfri <« ifcpuffninB TVm

seem to be two consistent finding? from this literatures First, as noted above, Asian

Americans tend to suffer from higher levels o f depression and depressed mood than

European Americans. Studies using both community samples (Franks & Faux, 1990; Kim.

&Rew, 1993;YiBg 1988) and college student samples (Aldwin & Grecnbcrgcr, 1987;

Kinzie, Ryals, Cottingham, & McDermott, 1973; Okazaki, 1997) have found that Asian

Amwipjiw wvtnn> nvw fyr^pnf^ p fjcpTCffWB «har» Fiimp yn Anwriwimf

Second, cultural differences in tbe expression and conceptualization o f depression

have been found. In many Asian cnltmes, fee example, emotional distress ts often believed

to result from , rather than cause; physical symptoms. Thus, it has been suggested that

physical complaints are a more common expression o f depression among Asian Americans

(ManeOa, Kinzie, & Gordon, 1973; D .W S u e& D . Sue, 1990). Ying et aL (1998) suggest

that tbe more holistic Chinese worldview, which assumes mind and body are

interconnected, leads to a mote integrated conceptualization ofdepression that includes

batit physical and psychological symptoms. Thus, pfaysical symptomsaie not seen as

somatization o f anotiooa] distress, but as one expression o f disturbance within the person

as a whole, to the cootext o f tbe stigmatization o f emotional distress perceived by many

Asian Americans, physical symptoms may becomes more acceptable expression o f

emotional dmtress. The picture remains unefcar, however; because other researchere (e.g»

Chin, Feldman, & Rosenthal, 1992) have found that Asian Americans weregsi mote likely

than Imropean Americans to endone psychosomatic symptoms.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. W c know even kssaboot anxiety among Asan Americans. Some studies

(Okazaki, 1997; D . Sue, Ino, & Sue, 1983) have found that Asian American* report higher

levels o f social anxiety than European Americans. Although anxiety disorders were fbond

to be less prevalent than ricprrrsion among a sample o f older Japanese-American adults

(Yamamoto etaL, 1985), rates were suggested to be sim ilar to those fbond among

European American adults* There is also Knitted evidence that Asian Americans may

conceptualize amdety as more sim ilar to or overlapping somewhat w ith depression (cited

in Iwainasa&: H illiard, 1999).

Taken together, these findings do little more than describe depression and anxiety

among Asian Americans. Clinicians and researchers still have little information about

possible cultural differences in tbe cognitive mechanisms underlying depression and social

anxiety. The existence o f such differences would have implications for culturally

appropriate conceptualization and treatment o f emotional distress.

UBUISBUQflBP^Setfdiscrcoancv

Higgins (1987) has described some o fthe cognitive mechanisms that may

contribute to the formation and expression o f emotional distress. Specifically, Higgins'

sdfdiscrepancy theory posits that depression and anxiety arc predictable emotional

consequences o f bolding different types o f inconsistent beliefs about the s e lf Higgins

identified several types o f selfrepresentation based on two underlying cognitive

dimensions,, standpoints on the sclfand domains ofthc s e lf The two standpoints on the self

are onefcowr standpoint and the standpoint ofsomc significant other. The three domains

erniwrfytopnimw; gyff, whicRme maA» np n f

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. aspires to possess (o r tfrat someone dse aspires fo r tbe person to possess): and fc> the oogbt

s elf which is made up o f attributes that the person fo r a ripnificanfothcrt feels he or she

should or is obligated to possess.

Thus, six different self-representations are hypothesized: actual/own (Who am I

ooiw?X actual/other (Who does someone else think I am?), ideal/own (Who would I like to

be?X ideal/other (Who would someone else like me to bc?X ougfrt/own (Who should I bc?X

and ought/other (Who docs someone else think I should be?). A t any tim e, pairs o f these

s e lf representations may be inconsistent or discrepant. For example, who I feel I am now

may be different than who I aspire to be (an actual/own-tdcal/own discrepancyX or who I

aspire to be may be different than who my parents aspire fo r me to be (an idealfown-

ideai/otber discrepancy).

Higgins (1987) has focused on discrepancies between actual/own (who 1 am now)

and ideal or oogbt self-representations, and predicted specific emotional consequences fo r

each type o fdiscrepancy. Higgins argued that an actual-ideal discrepancy (who I am now

is different than who I aspire to be, or who someone else aspires fo r me to be) represents

the absence o f positive outcomes, and thus should be associated with depression or other

"dq ectionrcelatcd emotions," (p . 322V On the other hand, actuafougfat discrepancies (who

I am now is different that who I think I should be, or who someone else thinks I should be)

represent the presence ofnegative outcomes, and thus should be associated with anxiety, or

other "agitation-related emotions,1* (p . 323). In a scries o f experimental and correlational

studies, Higgins found support fo r the existence and causal nature o f these relationships

However, Ogilvie (1987) has argued that Higgins fads to consider an important

fourth domain oftbe s e lf the undesired There is evidence that distance from the undesired

sctfmay be a better predictor o f depression than distance from the ideal self (O gilvic;

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1987; Ogdvie & Clark, 1992). This may be especially true fix Asian Americans. Cheung

(1997) has argued that fix uuiividuals from collectivist cultures that emphasize

interdependence and avoiding loss offacc, the ideal selfis less important than the

avoidance o f tbe undesired sd£ For persons from such cultures, Cheung argued,

"Depression may have less to do w ith the perception o f hcrw good one is, but more w ith

how bad one is," (p . 350). Cheung argued that Chinese cultural values do not emphasize

p>n nnal artiiw w w # tint n^«W MnptBKi7 g »vnf

Therefore, "Because saving face is so basic in Chinese society, the consequences o f losing

face to self w ill be greater than that o ffailure to gain face, ft also suggests that pursuance

o f tbe ideal self may be o f lesser importance than tbe avoidance o f the negative ideal in

Chinese culture" (p. 350). In a study with Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong, Cheung

(1997) did find that distance from the undesired self was a stronger predictor o f depressive

tyiwptramt than arhiaLirfwiI di«f rqwnpi>»

Seffconstrua! and emotional distress

fa addition to expecting that being sim ilar to whom I do not want to be (hereafter

referred to as an actual/undesired discrepancy) may be more predictive o f depression

among Asian Americans, there is also reason to expect that sdf-dactepandes involving the

other standpoint on the sclfarc more salient fix Asian Americans than European

Am ericans.

Asian culture has been described as more collectivist than Western culture, and

Asian and Asian American iadividnals as mote interdependent. Unlike Western culture,

which highly vafaes independence and penom l autonomy, Asian cBftue emphasizes the

importance o f the self in relation to others, and thus encourages an interdependent self-

conrtraaf (M aritas feKitayam a, 1991). fadeeri, Asians and Astan-Americans have beea

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. lo ■««» aiut giwliM nf|ignifu»M* nriiw* pfafcn*&

Krtayama, I99l)andtohoIdagrcaterinlcrdcpcndentsclf-constiualthmF.uropcaa

Americans (Hardin, Leong, & Qsipow, 2001; Sagplis, 1994). Ib is suggests that persons

w ith strong interdependent self-construals (e.g., many Asian Americans) w ill be mote

attuned to discrepancies between own-other sclf-rcprcscntations, while persons with

stronger independent self-construals (e.g^ European Americans) w ill be more attuned to

own-own self discrepancies. In other words; f ir example; failing to bewhom a significant

other aspires for tne to be (an actual/iown-ideal/bther discrepancy) would be mote salient to

an interdependent Asian American, while failing to be whom I aspire to be (an actual/own-

ideal/own discrepancy) would be more salient to an independent European American.

A n xiety

The differences in self-constiual between Asian Americans and European

Americans suggest another way in which the two groups may differ in terms o f emotional

distress. Okazaki (1997) suggested that because Asian Americans are more interdependent

and therefore more concerned with the evaluations o fothers in their group, social anxiety

^ nw> i*nm^inn i>f ^nw^innal tlqn -Shff jHglKid

that, "socjalanxictv. bv definition, is an expression o f discomfort in. or about.

interpersonal riftBtfjons,1* (p . 54, emphasis in original). Interdependent individuals, who are

mote attuned to social cues and more concerned w ith maintaining harmony in interpersonal

relationships, should therefore be more likely to experience social anxiety than mote

independent individuals. In fact, she founrf that an interdependent sdf-constreal was a

dgnifipantpwtiftnrnfwial »nvii

and ace. However, after controlling fo r other types o f emotional distress, neither ace nor

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. seifconstrual was a significant pretfctor o f depressioa. Tims, these fnxfingp suggest that,

reganflcssof levels o f depression, more interdependent individuals (eg^ many Asian

Americans) are more likely to experience higher cates o fsocial anxiety.

There are other reasons to believe that anxiety may be the more common form o f

emotional distress among Asian Americans. Iftheactnal-undesired discrepancy is the most

salient f ir Asian Americans; as suggested above; Higgins’ sei&fiscrepaiicy fleecy (19*7)

would seem to predict that anxiety, not depression, would be the expected emotional

consequence. Higgins argued that a failure to be whom one “should** be (an actual-ought

discrepancy) represents the presence o f negative outcomes; which leads to anxiety. It

seems that a failure to avoid the undesired self also represents the presence o f negative

outcomes. It has been suggested (R . M . A ririn, personal communication, Jnly 26,1999)

tin t aa actuatundesued discrepancy should lead to anxiety only ifthe discrepancy

represents the risk pflossoffecc. but that the actualrundcsiied discrepancy should lead to

depression if the discrepancy represents having already lost face ha either arcumstancr,

however, the discrepancy seems to more accurately reflect the presence o f negative

outcomes rather than the absence o f positive outcomes. Since Higgins attributes agitation-

H w tnt "*• *HTntf°**T tft* th^ ha«it n ftllw

distinction, it is s till expected that anxiety, not depression, would be the expected outcome

ofanactuat-undesireddiirerepancy. Indeed^ a recent study found that distance front the

feared setfwas a significant predictor ofanxiety (Carver, Lawrence; & Scherer, 1999),

sodalamrietyfecAsian Americans may be fenitetL These limitations are likely due to a

reliance ona culturally Kmited view qfthc self as an independent, achievement-seeking

eerier. Therefore, the purpose ofthe current study is to integrate cross-cultural conceptions

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ofthe self (M arins & Kitayama, 1991) with Higgins’ sel&discrepaDcy theory (1987) in

order to fkalitatecounsefors’ abilities to fonn culturally appropriate problem

concxptualiTafions, interventions; and treatment goals. It is expected that due to

mtenfepanAarf Adan mhiiral u»lm« Haf wnplia«w> awuVfan™* n ffe iW m ar aWmmg

success^ actual-undcsired discrepancies w ill be re lia b ly m ore salien t fo r A sian Am ericans.

Higgins (19ft7)axgDed that whichever s e lfdiscrepancy was most salient to an individual at

* given tiine would have the greatest emotional consequences for to t individual

Therefore; actual-undesired discrepancies are expected to be more predictive o f emotional

tiwttgaB. tfian r

represents the presence o f negative outcomes, it is expected that this discrepancy w ill be

predictive o f anxiety. This prediction, combined with the assumption that Asian Americans

are mote attuned to the desires o f significant others, suggests that symptoms o f social

anxiety w ill be more common than depression among Asian Americans. There seems to be

no reason to believe that a particular type o f self-discrepancy should be reliably more

salient for European Americans Thus, there are no reasons to predict that any form o f

emotional distress should he more cnmmnn than another among Ehmpean Am wiw iw

AAiit%MF fa ff*** Accultlgatinn and pe^m iW nntfm .^

In both cross-cultural counseling and research, it is important to consider variables

oo mufciple levels: universal, group, and individual (Leong, 1996). fa order to provide a

more complete, m ute-level, understanding o f the relationship between selfdiscrepaacy,

depression and amtiety among Aoan, and FjimfMn Am«irai« tan nther varahW mill

examined in this research: accultnratioa and pessimism / optim ism. Acculturation is an

important witfam-group variable that has been found to moderate tbe rehtinm hip between

selfdiscrepancy and depression (Ym agjda&Mand la, 197ftXSclEdiacrepaiicy may also

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. wbtinmhip an

pftMimfwn and optimism have been found to have

for Asian Americans and European Americans (Chanfc 1996), wbicfa has implicatioas for

the fbnnafion o f culturally appropriate intervention strategies.

Acculturation. An eartv study (Yanagwk&Maisdta. 19781 that investigated the

relationship between depression and real and ideal self-concept discrepancy found

acculturation to be an important moderating factor. The study assessed discrepancies

between actual/own (Who am I now?) and ideal/own (Who do I aspire to be?) self-

representations among Japanese American women in Hawaii. Yanagirfa and M anella

(1978) found that self-concept discrepancy was related to depression among second- and

young third-generation Japanese Americans, but not among older second- and third-

generation individuals. The authors explained this difference in terms o f the historical

context o f the two waves o f Japanese immigration that led to the earlier wave becoming

less quickly accuiturated than tbe later wave. Thus, the relationship between actual-ideal

self-concept discrepancy and depression held for these more accumulated Japanese

Americans, but not fo r their less acculturatcd counterparts.

Yanagiria and Marsclla (1978) suggested this might be because o f the traditional

Japanese tendency toward self-derogation, which would mean tbattbese less accutorated

Japanese American women were accustomed to holding a more negative sdfconccpt.

Thus, an actual-ideal self-concept discrepancy (Le., being different than whom 1 2 spire to

be} would be less meaningful for these persons who likely bold a more interdependent

view oftfae s e lf This a consistent with Cheung’s (1997) suggestion that attaining the ideal

is less influential to the mental health o f traditional Asian Americans than is avoiding the

undesoed

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. faadditioo to affecting which types o fself^discrcpaocy may be more predictive o f

x v n h i i r r t MW MU< itw y nvnaf x t m Q iy mHirgrrty hiipm^ fcwty

depression in another way. Altfwm and Greenberger(19&7) found that parental values

oriciaation was a strong predictor o f depression among Korean but not European American

college students. They found that perceived parental traditionalism was the strongest

predictor o f depression among Korean students and perceived parental modernism was

associated w ith lower depression. In contrast, own modem values, not parental values,

were associated w ife lower depression among European American students.

Aldwin and Greenberger (1987) interpreted there findings as indicative o f

accoitmativc stress rathe lives o f the Korean students. That is, perceived parental

traditionalism was hypothesized to be m conflict w ith the more modem values presumed to

permeate the lives o f the Korean students outside o ftheir families. Consistent with tins

hypothesis that differences in acculturation between parents and children lead to conflict,

Lee, Choc, Kim , and Ngo (2000) found that high acculturation adolescents who perceived

their patents to be low iaaccuhmation reported significantly more fam ily conflict than

high acculturation chfldren who perceived their parents also to be high in acculturation.

This values conflict can be conceived mtenns o f sdEdjserepancy. I f students”

values are conceived as the actual/own self guide (W hat do I value?) and parental values

are conceived as an ideal (values to aspire fix ) or undesired (values to be avoided) other

self guide (W hat do my parents want me to value or not value?), then it follows that

perceived parental traditionalism would be in conflict with the students more accnRunted

Qjc^ modem) values; and that this conflict would then be associated w ith higher

depression. Sim ilarly, perceived parental modernism would represent an actual-other

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. congruence, and would be expected to be associatedwith lower depression. Thus; sd £

discrepancy may mediate tbs relationship between accufturativc stress and depression.

Pcssimism-Ootimism. W hile cultural values, acculturation andseif-conslrnal inay

impact culturally appropriate conceptualizations a tdepression, other factors may need to

be considered m fixm nbtm gcofturally appropriate treatment interventions and goals. One

sack factor tbat has been found to be difierentiially associated with depression among Asian

Americans and European Americans is pcssimism-optimism. Chang (1996) found that

Asian Americans and European Americans did not differ in their levels o f optimism, but

that Asian Americans exhibited significantly more pessimism. Most notable; however, was

the finding that pessimism was a better predictor o f emotional distress among European

Americans than Asian Americans, while lack o f optimism was a better predictor among

Asian Americans than European Americans.

These findings are consistent with Cheung’s (1997) assertion that in Chinese and

many other Asian cultures, the belief is that, “when the job is done, the rewards are

imrgftam- if fr nfltdnne rigfo an* mmmBt ’' (p tffl) T ht [» « ■ «

may not be indicative o f hopelessness, but rather o f a basic be lie f that rewards are not

weggwarily forthcoming Indeed, Chang** ( 1 0 0 6 ) fonffingtharhighlypcmmiirtfo A«ai»

American students are likely to engage in more problem-solving behavior than less

pgMimwtie Arnan Amtmmt «m» fcigfity Fnmpga.* A m w m t« forttor

evidence that pessimism may more accurately reflect set underlying motivation to avoid

failure as opposed to a b d icfin the unlikelihood ofsucccss. That is, rather than gyving up

when success seems uncertain, Asian Americans arc more likely to work harder m solving

ifcgpnhltm rfiM faW fM iiW BnBm iM r In «hnrtBmpMn Amgrirana may hg

motivated to Asian American* may hfcmnriiiaterf to avoid ftflim

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Summary and hypotheses

The above discussion integrates cross-cultural conceptions o f the self (Marfcus&

Kitayama, 1991) with the constructs o f self-discrepancy (Higgins, 1987) and optiuusm/

emotional distress among Asian Americans nay be lim ited. Sdfcfiscrepancy theory

(Higgins, 1987) posits that actual-ideal discrepancies (who I am now is different than

whom I aspire to be* or whom someone else aspires fo r me to be) should be more

predictive o f depression. Thus, interventions that address this discrepancy by helping the

client sdf-actualize or better succeed m attaining the ideal should be helpful in alleviating

the depression.

However, Cheung (1997) argued that Asian cultural values that stress avoiding

failure above achieving personal success suggest that failure to avoid the undesired self

should be more relevant to the development ofdistress among Asian Americans.

Supporting this assertion, Cheung (1997) fcund that among Chinese adolescents, actual-

undcsircd discrepancies (tc ^ being sim ilar to whom ldonotw antto.be; or to whom

someone else docs not want me to be) were more predictive o f depression than actualrideal

discrepancies (Lei, being different than whom I aspire, or whom someone else aspires for

me, to be).

Further, Yanagida and MarseHa (1978) found that actual-ideal discrepancies

predicted depression only among more acculturated individuals. More accufturated

individuals presumably believe more strongly in Western cultural values and hold a more

independent construe! o f the sd£ which would lead to ngteater emphasis on personal

success. Therefore, failure to attain what one aspires fo r (an actual-ideal discrepancy)

would be more relevant fo r these more accuiturated individuals and therefore more

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. strongly associated w ith depression. Finally, Chang's (19% ) findings that pessimism was

not the strongest predictor ofem otioaal distress among Asian Americans and that highly

pessimistic Asian Americans engaged in mote problem-solving behavior further suggests

that Asian Americans may be more motivated to avoid failure than to achieve success.

Thus, fcr Asian Americans, conceptualizing depression as stemming from faihire

to avoid the undented suggests that culturally appropriate interventions should focus not

on self-actualization but on helping the client find ways to distance him or herself from the

undesired sei£ Further, as suggested by Chang (1996), the standard cognitive treatment o f

depression that includes attempting to decrease pessimism is fikeiy to be less helpful to

Asian Americans than increasing optimism.

As suggested by S. Sue and Zane (1987), counselors who do not consider the

implications o f these cultural differences in tbe self may indeed be using culturally

inappropriate problem conccptualiTafions (depression as result o f failing to achieve tbe

ideal), and suggesting inappropriate interventions (e g ., decreasing pessim ism ) and

jnafe (p f*t£flftnalrrafion) In addition, there is other evidence that suggests

tbat anxiety, not depression, may be tbe more relevant problem fo r many Asian Americans

(Okazaki, 1997). I f so, counselors may not only be treating the problem inappropriately,

tbey may be treating tbe wrong problem.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 2

LFFERATURE REVIEW

This chapter w ill review the relevant literature on Asian cultural values, sdf-

discrepancy, cultural differences in emotiona l distress, and emotional distress among Asian

Americans in particular. First, a general discussion a£some traditional Asian cultural

values is offered in order to provide a background fo r many o f the cultural differences

discussed throughout the rest o f this review.

Next, the history o f research on self-discrepancy w ill be briefly reviewed before

gping on to discuss Higgins’ (19&7) self-discrepancy theory in particular. The theory w ill

he briefly described, and then some o f the more important and relevant empirical work

tesringthisthcory w ill be discussed, along with some methodological issues in the

asressmentofseif-discrepancies. The lim ited literatrire on the undesiredselfand its role in

relf-discrcpancy theory w in then be reviewed. The argument for expecting distance from

the undesitedsclfto be more predictive o f distress among Asian Americans than other sdS-

discrepancies w ill be offered, in addition to the argument that distance from the undcsircd

self should be assodatedmore w ith anxiety than with depression.

Following this discussion o f sel£discrepancy and the predicted relationship

between different types ofsclf-discrcpancy and different types o f emotional distress,

research on cultural differences in emotional distress win be reviewed- Evidence that there 14

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. may be consisteat cultural differences in both tbe experience and expression o f depression

and anxiety, along with, explanations fo r these differences that have been offered in the

literature; w itt be summarized. The issue o f somatization w ill bcfocuscdoo in this section.

Finally, specific research on emotional distress among Asian Americans w ill be

reviewed. The pievalence o f du ties among Asian Americans w ill be discossed witfna the

context o f their demonstrated underutilization ofm ental health sendees before moving on

to review the literature describing predictors and correlates o f depression and anxiety

among Asian Americans.

Traditional Asian Vahics

The term “Asian American” is used to refcrto a very heterogeneous group, made

ap o f individuals fiom dozens o f ethnic groups who share different national histories;

whose fam ilies immigrated to the United States for a variety o f reasons, both voluntary and

involuntary. Research is confirming that there are differences among Asian Americans in

the endorsement o f certain values (Kim , Yang, W olfe, & Hong, 1999). W hile recognizing

these important wtfhin-^pcwp differences, the following discussion attempts to identify

sore o f the broad values traditionally shared by many Asians and Asian Americans in

order to place in context sore o f the argimcitfs regaining face, fam ily, and the impact o f

acculturation that are to follow.

Many o f these traditional values can be traced to the influence o f Confbdan

principles ftroughout much o f Asia. Relationships are o fcentral importance in Confhcian

philosophy. Attention to proper interaction m five primary rrfaiionshq>s» emphasized.

These relationships are;**... those betweenamier and his subjects, fitte r and son, husband

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and w ife; elder and younger siblings, ami friend^** (H o, 1987, p. 25, citing Keyes; 1977).

These Cfrnfucian principles are the source o f the concepts o f filia l piety, fam ily harmony,

snut maintaining

Filial Pietv

According to Confucian principles for defining fam ily relationships, primaiy

relationships are those between, parent and child, not those between hnshand and w ife

(Hsu, 1983). It is the duty o f children to honor and take care o f their parents—regardless

o f whatever else the parents are or do, they brought the child into the world, and therefore

are owed obedience and respect (Ho, 1987). As Confucius wrote, “Being good as a son and

obedient as a young man is, perhaps, tbe root o f a man’s character,” (in Lau, 1979)

However, these values are becoming less prevalent in general, especially the values o f

compliance and honor. Jen (cited in Chao, 1998) found that Taiwanese, Chinese American,

and Europcan-A mcrican adolescents were likely to support the idea that children should

take care o f elderly parents more than the idea that children should be unquestkmingiy

obedient o r submissive to their parents.

These remits indicate that the traditional nr*inn rtf filial piaty may changing

somewhat. Kim , Kim, and Huth (1991) have suggested that the economic realities o f life in

the United Stales for many immigrant Asians requires that the traditional expectation o f

filia l piety be modified. Specifically, they argued that the cultural ideal o f elderly parents

living w ith their married children (generally the oldest son) is unrealistic and places undue

strain on mtergenerational relationships in Korean and Kotean-American families,

Although the fiunfly-kmship system in Korea, as m mod* o f Asia, jscharactcrized by

interdependence wkh a targe extended fam ily, most Korcan-Amcricans and Korean

inmignntt Cnit tiiwnfetvy p ift’iparing >r» » itm A tmalliir w iA arfam lyylw a

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Tfaw airthnw aignwl trarftKfmal filial yitftthf fvpfr^iinntfi^

married couples provide support and care only to the husbands parents; is untenable fo r

tf^nwm-AmwM n femiTix tm A Iwife fn rtmtt a m i mnflift

Five suggestions foe modifying the traditional system o f filia l piety were offered: (a) lim it

filial nMigjrtmiw to plfyyii^l a«wi p^yylinlngjfj[ n»i» ratW fan finani»ial wtw«f

oldigationsofinaiTicd coiiptestoincfudetheparentsafbothindividuals, notjustthe

husband. (c) a c b o w le ^ die husband-wife relationship, not tbe parent-child B h tia n %

as primaty in immigrant fam ilies, (d ) extend filia l obligations to a ll siblings, not just tbe

n M f t tf mni anrf (g) Micminigy nf^ilf rhiMiwi tn tw»lp willing pargnfrf jmfcpwufcnt

hnnn^

Interdependent sclfconstnial

This cultural emphasis on interpersonal and group relationships, largely based on

tbe Coofucian principles discussed above, has been called collectivism. Collectivism has

been contrasted w ith individualism, the Western cultural value that emphasises

independence and autonomy (Triandis, Bontcmpo; V illareal, Asai, & Lucca, 1988). These

tenns refer to cuitnre-levei contracts; for example; Asian Americans ate considered to

Thytwrnt Miltj | | ( [ | pi iiAwl t>l£^)twtnal»

are generally used to refer to these concepts on an individual level.

Sd£constnia l refers to how an individual sees hint- or herself m relation to others.

Matfcus and Kitayam a( 1991) first distinguished between independent and interdependent

setfconstroals-“The independent sclficoostnial is defined as a ‘bounded, unitary, stable*

self that g separate 6om social context,” (Sharkey &. Singelis, 199S, p. 920). Mariois and

Kkayama (IQQ 1) a«nciaterf tfig m rfrp i-n iV iif «gffig«w rfnial m rii rfe»ra

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “individualist, egocentric, separate, autonomous. idiocentric, and selfcontaincd,” (p. 226).

They argued that as independent seifconstrual is encouraged and highlyvalued in Western

cultu re.

Eastern culture, on the other hand, emphasizes the importance o f the self in

relation to others, and thus encourages and values an interdependent self-constnial, the

authors argued. “... an interdependent selfconstrual is defined as a ‘flexible; variable* self

Central to the interdependent self is the sense that the self and other are intertwined,”

(Sharkey & Singelis, 1995, p. 920). Characteristics including “socioccntric, holistic,

collective, alloccniric, cnscmblcd, constitutive. contcxtualist. connected, and relational,”

(Marfcus & Kitayama, 1991, p. 227) are a ll associated with an interdependent self-

construaL

Markus and Kitayama offered an extensive review o f the cross-cultural literature,

outlining th e,“... significant cognitive, emotional, and motivational consequences o f

holding an independent or an interdependent view o f the self” (p. 231). AH the evidence

cited supported the idea that Asians and Asian Americans, presumably those w ith an

interdependent sclf-construal, are more attuned to tbe needs and wishes o f significant

othersandarem orelikely to behave and to perceive behavior in context-specific terms. An

instrument designed to measure the strength o f an individuaTs independent and

interdependent seifconsUruab, the SeifConstrual Scale (SCS), did find that Asian

Americans have a stronger interdependent sclf-construai than European Americans

(SmgeUs, 1991).

AXBBtEOBdHBSMKBBXTraifitinnal family ttmrfiim

Asian American fam ilies have also been described as having a more trarfitional

fam ily stractnreL "(Tbe] primary role afthe father is to provide and enforce the rules, ...the IS

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. mother's role is to nurture and care for her children, [and) the child's responsibility at home

stoob^indtobeihfeeaiytabBorherpaia^*^I987,p.2^CaDSHleatwAh

these views, Asian Americans have been found to endorse more hierarchical and traditional

gender roles w ithin fam ilies than European Americans (Ching, McDermott, Fukanaga,

Yanagida, Mann, & Waldron, 199$; Phinncy & Madden, dted in Chao. 1998).

As described above; Coufudan values and principles regarding relationships do

not acknowledge the husband-wifc relationship as primary. Traditional gcndcr-rolc

expectations farther contribute to the lack o f egalitarianism in traditional Asian marriages.

Largely because women could not provide support or care to their own parents after they

were married, women's positions in fam ilies were always lower than that o f the men.

Women had only three "paths** to follow . First, they were subservient to their fathers, then

to their husbands, then to their sons (Ho, 1987). One notable exception to this cultural

sanction o f rigid gender-roles is found among traditional Filipino fam ilies. Although

Anting wnpliatw rut femifalign anti intptffpflHfellffl, Filipinrfc

traditionally been much more egalitarian than patriarchal (Agbayani-Siewcrt, 1994).

Acculturation

For many Asian Americans, however, the realities o f immigration and

awiilhB^ in ii ta w l^ t m niijfipahnn n fth w traiC tiniial gwuW jnU Wfp>y(^t»w it in

Asian American families (Ho, 1987; Yee; 1992). Women are often forced to work outside

o f the home due tt> financial pressures. Combined w ith the loss o fextended fam ily that

often occurs after immigration, financial and child-rearing burdens o f a fam ily may be

placed largely or wholly on the husband-wife dyad. This often requires husbands to share

the duM reaim g burdens and the husband and w ife to renegotiate their patterns o f

mu nicatio n . A ll o f these changes m ay place enorm ous strain on th e fa m ily w ho is 19

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. unprepared fix ’ such modifications to tbe traditional fam ily structure. Tbe rituation is

complicated further when grandparents are involved. Elders arc likely to accumulate more

sfcmriy to Western values, and to find tbe acculturation o f values m their children and

gnatif,nf r*f rffffpf*** ^ in

tftfrir rJH age may nf# hg m tf Am tr> th^ finaivnat anH yy i^( miwliaj^ f atmarfy ifi«nif«Hf

(Ho, 1987; Kim, Kim &Hurb, 1991; Yee; 1992).

In addition to these accuiturativc stresses placed on an Asian American fam ily as a

qihnl^ differing rate* nf Menhmtmn may Inari mterg^n^gatirmal conflict withm tfio

fam ily (Hong & Ham, 1993; Lee et aL, 2000; Szapocznik & Kurtines, 1993). Asian

American adolescents tend to accuftmate more rapidly than their patents, and chfldren^s

level o f acculturation has been found to be related to their perceptions o f differences

between themselves and their parents (Hong & Ham, 1992; Rick & Forward, 1992). These

differing ratw nf awnltiirahnn nftwt kyif fn ii»lm« wwffirt* hMuwrn anit

patent*(foetal Mflft) and drffemncc* in expectation* certain ficliairin««

ynlA nanS tr Bw n f h jl 1990). I Jngiwg f djfftnaw it «ffj»ntnah»

differences, since children o f immigrants often aren’t fluent in their parents’ native

language while immigrant parents often aren’t fluent in English (Hong& H a n , 1 9 % ). This

may force parents to rely on their children totranslate fo r them or otherwise help them

negotiate daily tasks, which reverses the traditional fam ily hierarchy and may place

additional strain on the parents (Rick & Forward, 1992). The relationship between

accafturative conflict and emotional distress w fll be dismissed below in the section on

predictors o f depression and anxiety among Asian Americans.

2 0

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AJUUUIIK^Sm m natv

The above section has reviewed soineofthe broad values shared by many Asian

Americans. This discussion was offered in order to describe the origin and context o f some

ofthcm oretraditional Asian values regarding fam ily aod group relations. ft was not

intended to suggest that a ll Asian American individuals adhere to a ll o f these values, nor to

die same degree. A general understanding o f these values is important: in order to

nwfaifjiiwf Im r p f x o f try mnfll^ yyiHiira

especially when an adolcscenT is aceulturating to a Western, individualistic enfrure more

rapirfty thm fci» nr- hy pufwit* may «till ImM ww> tnutitifwal iql'|fT

Such an understanding is also important in order to understand tbe ideas o f

interdependence and the importance o f avoiding loss o f face; both ofwhich are

hypothesized in tee current study to affect tbe refationsbip between self-discrepancy and

mntinn^l dktrffiTSfflWg Agfaw Ainwiffiw

Self-Discrepancy

Sei£disctcpaacy may be generally defined as a difference; real or perceived^

between any two or more o f a person’s possible self representations. Such discrepancies

are thought to have important emotional consequences for individuals. Psychologists have

tended to focus on die consequences o f discrepancies between a person's actual s e lf and Ins

or her ideal sd£ Although contemporary study o f tbe self in general and se^tfim qpancy

m particular may be most associated with social psychology, interest in the real and ideal

selves can be found among the writings ofpsychologists as far back as W illiam James.

Earfvw crfc

Several authors (Higgins, K lein, & Sttanman. 1985,1987; OgSvie, 1987; Ogihrie

& Q a k , 199f2\ h aw tra ra l thgr hi

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. between the real and ideal selves. They noted that in 189Q, James argued that people feel

disappointed when achievements fa il tomatch their aspirations, brother wank; people feel

disappointed wben their actual selves aie discrepant fio n their ideal selves. Later, m 190!^

Cooley wrote about tbe “humiliation” that results from a discrepancy w ith one** “social

idea?* s e lf

Fread and Hater psychodynamic theorists also focused attention on what could be

described as s realideal self discrepancy and its consequences* Fiend (1965, cited m

O gilvie, 1987), forexample, postnhted that the cgp measures its worthiness by comparing

its e lf to the “ego ideal.” perfected images o f parents and others, internalized in the

superego. Both Adler and H omey were also interested in the consequences o f foiling to

meet ooe’s ideals. For example, in 1950, Homey argued that ooe difference between

neurotics and “normals” lay m differences in their ideal selves: “normal” individuals

possess 'realistic goals and aspiratioos; w hile neurotic individuals hold themselves up to an

“nnmntahle standard that can never be achieved,” which “haunts and cripples its victim

with the‘tyranny o f should*,” (Ogihrie; 1987. pi 379).

Finally, the woric o f Carf Rogers (L954; 1961) a particularly notable in the history

o f interest in teahideal sel£

consequences o f foiling to become whom one wants to be, but aba was among the fia t to

research titese consequences (O gilvie& Q aifc, 1992X Rogers used a modified Q-sort

techniquctoqiaatify the discrepancy between a client *s real and ideal reives. The dieat

was given a stack ofcards, each o f which had a descriptive statement such as, “I am shy,”

and was mstroeted to sort the cards into nine piles fro«n“fcasf like me” at one end to “most

B e mef” at the other endl The client fo rt completed the sort f ir her actual self (how she

perceived herself at that tim e)and then fo r her ideal self (how she hoped or aspired tobe). 22

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The cards and their placements were coded such tbataconclation coaid be computed

between the two selves. Rogers demonstrated that over tim e, as the client progressed

thurmgK liy i^ l ftnH ideal 1^

(Rogers, 1954X

ECppins’ (19871 Theory o f Sdf-Discrepancv

Tbe prim aiy shortcoming o f all o f the eariy work on self-discrepancy was the

failure to predict specific emotional consequences from specific selfidiscrepancics

P g g im , Klein, & Strauman, 1985). Earlier work focused eitber on selfdiscrepancy in

general, or only on real-ideal sdMncrepanciies; and (fid not discuss other possible types o f

self-discrepancy. The earlier work also made no attempt to link different types o f affect

(e.g_, depression versus anxiety) to different self-discrepancies. Higgins’ self-discrepancy

theory was an effort to integrate the previous work and extend it in order to make such

specific predictions.

Based on the earlier empirical and theoretical work o f Higgins and his colleagues,

(Higgins, Bond, Klein, & Strauman, 1986; Higgins, Klein, & Strauman, 1985,1987),

Higgins (1987) articulated his seif-disciepancy theory as a single model to predict both the

intensity and quality o f the emotional consequences ofdiffcrent types o f sclfdiscrepancy.

These diffe ren t types o f sclfdiscrepancy arc concept! i a lt7ed as discrepancies between any

two o f several types o f self-representation. These sclfiteprcsenfafions, in torn, ate based on

two underlying cognitive dimensions, domains o f the self and standpoints on the s e lf

These tw o dimensions, domains ofand standpoints on the self are fundamenta l components

o f Higgins’ theory.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. fa^th^artnal^f- aW itm aV i^

o f attributes that the person is believed (by self or others) to currently possess; (b ) the uj@ I

which is made up o f attributes that the person aspires to possess (o r that someone else

aspires fcc the person to possess): and fc ) th e ought self. which «made up o fattribute* that

die person (o r a significant other) feels be or should or is obligated to possess. The two

standpoints on the selfareonek own standpoint and the standpoint o f some significant

other.

Thus, six different self-representations are hypothesized: actual/own (Who am I

now?), actual/other (Who does someone else think 1 am?), ideal/own (Who do I aspire to

be?X ideal/other (Who does someone else aspire for me to be?), ought/own (Who should I

be?X and ought/other (Who does someone else think I sfaould be?). A t any tim e, pairs o f

these self-representations may be inconsistent or discrepant. For example; whom I feel I

am now may be different than whom I aspire to be (an actual/ownrideal/own discrepancy),

or whom I aspire to be may be different than whom nay parents aspire fijr me to be (an

idealfown-idea i/othcr discrepancy).

Higgins has focused on discrepancies between actual/own and ideal or ought self-

represcntations; that is, differences between who I am now and who I or someone else

aspires for me to be or thinks I should be. He has predicted specific emotional

consequences fo r each type o f discrepancy. Higgins argped that an actual-ideal discrepancy

represents the absence o f positive outcomes, and thus should be associated w ith depression

or "dq ectMn-related emotions,1* (p. 322). More specifically, an actual/own-ideal/own

discrepancy (tbe attributes I feel I currently possess are different from the attributes I aspire

to possess) is predicted to lead to "disaorointrpenr and

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. emotions arc associated w ith people believing that their personal hopes or wishes have

becannfiilfiBed^fe. 322, emphasis m original^ Onthc other hand, anactual/own-

ideal/othcr discrepancy (the attributes I feel I currently possess arc different fiora tbe

attributes some significant other aspires fo r me to possess) would be associated with

’’shame, embarrassment, or feeling downcast-.-bccausc people who believe that they have

foiled to obtain some significant other's hopes or wishes are likely to believe that the

significant other is dissatisfied w ith them,” (p. 322).

Self-discrepancy theory further hypothesizes that acfiial-ought discrepancies

represent the presence o f negative ootcomcsL and thus should be associated w ith anxiety, or

other "agitation-related emotions,1* (p. 323). Specifically, an actualfown-ougbt/own

discrepancy (the attributes I have now arc different than the attributes I feel obligated to

possess} should be associated w ith "guilt selficontcmpt. and uneagiiwsm hecaiwatlieag

feelings occur when people believe they have transgressed a personally accepted (L e ,

legitim ate) moral standard," (p. 323, emphasis in original). On the other band, an

actuaJ/own-ought/other discrepancy (the attributes I have now arc different than the

attributes some important other feels I am obligated to possess) is predicted to be

associated w ith. **fear and feeling threatenedbecause these emotions occur whewtfangw nr

hum is anticipated or impending” (p. 323, emphasis in original).

Higgins argued that it is likely that individuals w ill have multiple self-

discrepancies. but that whichever sdfidiscrepaacv is mast available and accessible at any

moment predicts both the quality o f discomfort experienced by the person fc.g_ depression

versus amrictvk and the intensity o f the discomfort. The availability o f a sclfidiicrepanc y k

based on its magnitude, or degree o f discrepancy. Discrepancy is determined by the 25

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. member and degree o f “mismatch” betweca the attributes in any two sclfveprcsentations.

For example; if a person believes he or she is currently very unattractive (an actual/own

attribute) bat aspires to be very attractive (an ideal/own attribute), then there is a high

degree ofmistnatch on this attribute. I f on the other hand, apcrsoa believes he or she is

moderately generous (an actuatfown attribute), and believes that he or she should be very

generous (an onghtfown attribute), then there is only a slight degree o f mismatch on this

attribute. The more mismatches there are between any tw nsetf’tepresentatibos and the

greater the degree o f mismatch, the greater tbe magnitude o f the selfdiscrepancy, the more

available that discrepancy is to the individual, and the more intense is the emotional

consequence o f that self-discrepancy when activated.

Whether or not an available discrepancy is activated, and therefore whether the

emotional consequences o f that discrepancy are experienced, depends on the accessibility

o f the sclfdiscrepancy. Consistent with the body ofresearch on the accessibility o f any

cognitive construct, Higgins argued that the accessibility o f selfdiscrepancies is

determined by three factors: the recency o f its activation, the frequency o f its activation,

it« fn fhff f iHffwi* «ih»gt£fm

The more recently a cognitive construct has been activated, the more likely a

person is to interpret subsequent ambiguous stimuli using that same construct. This is the

basis for priming, and Higgins argued that this phenomenon is also applicable to self-

discrepancies. Thus, a recently activated sdfdisctcpancy is expected to be more accessible

to tbe individual. Sim ilarly, research has shown that the more frequently a cognitive

construct is accessed , the more accessible it becomes. Again, Higgins argrcd the same

holds true fo r sefcSsaepaaciesL Finally, research has shosrathat a stored cognitive

2 6

I I

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. contract is not likely to be used to mtespret an event unless it is applicable to that event

For example; a sclfdiscrepancy, which has negative emotional implications, is not Ekely to

be activated to explain a positive event.

Thus, unlike eaclier theories, Higgins’s selfdiscrepancy tbeocy predicts both the

qjaafity and intensity o f discomfort associated w ith specific sdfdiscrepancics. He argued

that whichever type o fsdfidisoepancy is most accessible to an individual at any given

moment predicts tbe qpality o fdiscomfort experienced by the person. For example; i f

situational factors make an actual/ideal discrepancy most accessible; then tbe person is

likely to experience depression. U navailability or magnitude o f the discrepancy in turn

discrepancy, the more intense w ill be tbe depression.

JBSaBSSBBAXoBBBBEmntrica! evidence

Tn a MriMnfatpwimwilal ami gnrmlatiwMil OmCw H.ggiw« ami W ivJlMgnix

found support for tbe existence o f these relationships between type o f self-discrepancy,

availability and accessibility o f tbe seifidiscrepancy, and the quality and intensity o f

emotional response. Two o f these studies w ill be described in detail, followed by b rief

summaries o f results o f other studies that have also supported the theosy.

In one o f the earliest tests o f Higgins* theory, Higgins, Klein and Stramnan (1985)

found support foe tbe predictions regarding the relationship between specific self-

discrepancies and the quality and intensity o f discomfort. Fifty-tw o undergraduates were

admimtfered the Selves Questionnaire to assess scifdiscrepancics The Selves

QnrsfKinnaiie provides numerical scores fo r the magnitude o f each o fthe four types o f

seifidiscrepancy foctnalAawnridealAiwi^ actual/awn-ideal/bther, actnal/bmaroughtfowa,

urtiralfrmm nwgfitftTthrr) T V pmtiripunfT i I to m rrfirrif tnrrnf mrmnrir n f rmntirauf 27

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. distress, including the Biatt Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (B latt P ’A fflitti, &

Quinlan, 1976), the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL; Derogate Lipina, Rickets,

Uhlcnfmth, tc. Covi, 1974), and the Beck Depression Inventory (B D I; Beck, 1967).

To test the hypothesis that the magnitude o f self-discrepancy is associated with tbe

intensity o femotional distress, a ll four self-discrepancy scores were combined into a

composite selfdiscrepancy magnitude score and correlated w ith the measures o f emotional

distress. A significant, positive correlation was found for a ll measures o f distress,

indicating that tbe greater the magnitude o f self-discrepancy, the greater the degree o f

emotional distress.

To test the hypothesis that the different types o f sdfdiscwpancy are associated

w ith different types o f distress, correlations and partial correlations between actual-ideal

and actual-ought self-discrepancies and the individual items on the measures o f emotional

distress were computed. S elf discrepancy scores were combined fo r actual/dwnrideal own

itnrf actual/own-ideal/othcr discrepancies to yield a total actual-ideal s e lf discrepancy score.

Actual-oughtseif-discrepancy scores were sim ilarly combined to yield an overall score.

I poking at those items whose partial correlations were significant for one self-

discrepancy, but not the other, yielded support for the hypothesis that different types o f

seifdiscrepancy are related to different types o f emotional consequences, hems correlated

w ith actual-ideal discrepancies, but not w ith actual-ought discrepancies, were

predominantly dejection-related (c.g^ dissatisfied, shame; unworthy, lonely), hems

fwnhtwt nntfc hnf nrt mirfl aphaLilfcat ™TTT

predominantly agitation-related (c.g., heart racing. suddenly scared). Although conelatioos

with individual scale items is not methodologically ideal, the results did yield in itial

support fig some ofthe predictions ofseifrfiscrepancy theory. 2S

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A later study (Higgins, Bond. Klein, .& Stranman. 1986) found additional support

for the prediction that actual-ideal discrepancies are associated w ith depression while

actual-ougbt discrepancies are associated with anxiety. One hundred seventeen

undergraduates com pleted be Selves Questionnaire a few weeks p rio r to tb e experim ental

session. MiqpiitndcofsclEdiscrepancies was calenialed for each participant, and relative

nagnitudes o f the different sciEdiscrepancics were compared fo r each individual. Those

participants for whom the actual-ideal discrepancies were o f the greater magnitude were

considered “predominant actual-ideal discrepancy participants,” while those paiticipants

for whom the actual-ought discrepancies were o f the greater magnitude were considered

“predominant actuai-ought discrepancy participants.”

A t the experimental session, participants completed two mood measures: a

semantic differential task and the M ultiple Affect Adjective Checklist (MAACL;

Zuckerman & Lubin, 1965). Participants then performed a simple writing-spccd task,

writiog a lis t o f numbers in decreasing older by ones starting from 100. Following this,

paiticipants engaged in a guided imagery task that had eight conditions: two levels o f event

focus (positive or negative) crossed with two Icvek o f protagonist (self or othcr) cro6scd

w ith two event themes (achievement or interpersonal). The positive, achievement condition

required participants to imagine they (or someone else) had just received an A inacourac,

while the negative achievement coaditioo required participants to imagine they (or

someone else) had just received a D in acomse. The positive; interpersonal condition

required participants to imagine they (or someone else) bad just spent the evening with

somconcthey admired, while tire negative, intcipcnonai condition required participants to

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. imagtwrt»»y^nr gtffc) had j?Sf hpitfff* npmirf^ jf|pr pnilnmmg

theguidedimagcry task, participants again completed the mood measures and the w riting-

speed task.

The authors hypothesized that the negative imagery tasks could he interpreted as

either failure to meet the ideal (e.g.. not getting a hoped fix A ) or failure to meet the ought

(e.g^ not performing as w ell as one shouMKandthat interpretation ofthecveat according

to ekher an actual-ideal or actual-ought discrepancy should be related to tbe relative

availability (tc ., magnitude) o f the discrepancies for each paitidpant. In other words, they

expected that for predominant actual-ideal discrepancy participants^ the negative event

would activate the actual-ideal discrepancy, w hile for the predominant actual-ought

discrepancy participants, the negative event would activate the actnal-ought scif-

discxepancy.

The activation ofthc differen t self-discrepancies should in turn lead to different

emotional consequences, the authors hypothesized Those participants with an activated

actual-ideal discrepancy should respond to the negative guided imagery task with

dej ection-related emotions, while those participants with an activated actual-ought

discrepancy should respond with agkatioo-rclatcd emotion There should be no difference

between groups on the positive task, because sd£discrcpancics should not be activated by

the positive imagery.

The authors found that, as predicted^, tbe predominant actual*dealput>cg>ms

reported more dqectioo-refctfed emotions and were slower on the wikingrspeed task

fblfowingthencgativcimagcry task than following the positive imagery task, and were

MaggdeprttândrfninnyfetTnanngthantii^ngâHwîiagMytgctrHMmtli^papHnniiMBr

ilifw p—fy pwtjripmt« ***** pxtnn'inai* artm Lin^t ilwfwpary

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. participants reported more agjtatKNKebtedcmotiMK and wese foster on die writmg-speed

task following foe am ative imagcsy task than following the positive imagery task, and

were mote agptatcrt and faster following the negative imagery task than the predominant

pfl«tfc*pantS. partffipam« magnitnA-rtfytnaLiifcyl

discrepancy was positively correlated with amount o f dejection and negatively correlated

wifo agjtatkx^ w hile magnitude o f actual-ougbt discrepancy was positively correlated with

agitation and uncocrelated w ith dejection.

th is , in this study, the authors found support fee the "hypothesis o f sef£»

discrepancy theory that focusing on an event that is likely to be experienced as a negative

psychological situation w ill induce different emotions and emotionally related behaviors

depending on an individual’s predominant type o f self-concept discrepancy” (Higgins ct

aL, 1986, p. 11); as w ell as additional support for the hypothesis that magnitude o f self-

discrepancy is related to intensity o f discomfort. A second study tested the hypothesized

relation between the relative accessibility afdiffcrcnt sclf-discrcpancics and d ifferences in

MMtinm l change

In this second study, participants again completed a modified version o f the Selves

Questionnaire several weeks before the experimental session. This modified version

allowed fo r a finer distinction between degrees o f mismatch to be drawn (see discussion o f

methodology o f assessing sdfifiscrepancies below). Individuals who were relatively Ugh

on both actual-ideal and actual-ought discrepancies were selected to participate; aloug with

individuals who were relatively low on both types o f sdfdiscrepancy. A t the experimental

session, cither actual-ideal or actual-ought self-discrepancies were primed by having the

partiripanfs describe the type ofpcrsou they and their parents won Id ideally like them to be

(thought they should be) and to lis t the associated attributes. A mood measure was given

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. before and after the priming tasfcfc was Igrpothcsizcd that the ideal priming would make

the actual-ideal discrepancy more accessible w hile the ought pruning woohk make the

actual-ought discrepancy more accessible.

a« lf«gt«

primmgconditionbccamenMiredqected w hile fo'gh discrepancy participants in the ooght

prim ing condition became more agitated. Low discrepancy participants became less

dejected or abated in the ideal and ought penning eondkioas^ respectively, uxScaring the

prim ing its e lf (fid not induce tbe mood changes observed in the high discrepancy

participants. Tbe results support tbe hypothesis that “changing tbe accessibility o f different

types ofseifconcept discrepancy causes changesin different types o f discomfort,” (p . 13).

Other studies bave found sim ilar relationships between actual-ideal discrepancies

and depression (e .g , Alien, Woolfblk. Gara, & Apter, 1996; Higgins, Klein, & Strauman,

1987) and actual-ought discrepancies and anxiety (Higgins. K lein, & Strauman. 1987).

However, ft is important to note that one recent study found no support for tbe specific

predictions o f Hjggms* theory. Tangney, N icdcnthal, Covert, and Barlow (1998) attraipfed

to replicate tbe findings o f Higgins, K lein, and Strauman (1985) using both tbe original

idktgraphic method o f collecting sclfdiscrepancy data and a simpler, nomothetic method.

Unlike tbe original research, which found that different types o f selfdiscrepancy were

uniquely associated with different types o f emotional distress, Tangney ct aL (1998) found

no support for this differential relationship. Instead, they found that each type o f self-

discrepancy was associated with each type o f distress, regardless o fwhich method was

used to assess sclfdiscrepancy, and regardless qfwhcthcrsdfdiscrepancies were

correlated with individual scale items (replicating the methodology o f Higgins c ta l. 1985)

or more reliable sabscaks.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Methodological issues in the assessment o f setediscrapancy

Tangney etaL (1998) argued that one explanation for their results was the

difficulty in ideiXifymg specific, difiereia self-discrepancies. They noted tta t ip their

research, as w ell as in tbe original research o f Higgins’ et aL (1985), tbe different types o f

selfdiscrepancy were highly interconelated. In addition, they reported that most o f their

paiticipants ware unable to distinguish between tbe ideal and ought self-representations.

Thus, only a more general, crver-arching self-discrepancy was being identified which was

then being found to correlate with emotional distress in general. “Using neither method

[idiographic versus nomothetic] did we detect evidence for unique sclfdisctepancies, and

ft is these specific self-disctcpancics that are at the heart o f self-discrepancy theory,”

(Tangney etaL, 1998). Before deciding that unique self-discrepancies do not, in fact, exist

or are not measurable, the methods for assessing seifdiscrepancies need to be more closely

cram m ed.

The Selves Questionnaire (Higgins et aL, 1985; Higgins et aL, 1987) is an

idiographic approach that asks respondents to generate up to 10 attributes for each o f the

six possible seif-representations. Each page lists instructions, such as, “Please lis t the

attributes qfthc type ofpcrsonvour mother believes voa tv -” ffligym *

etaL, 1985, p. 58). This page, then, collects attributes o f the ought/other sd f-

lepwsentation. Lists o f attributes foe each pair ofscif-rcprescitfarions arc then compared

fix matches and mismatches. A match occurs if the same or synonymous wont appears on

both Ssts(e.g^ “smart” on actual/own and “intelligent” on ideal/other), while a mismatch

occurs if tbe opposite or antonymous word appears on the lists (e .g , “dishonest” on

actual/own and “honest” onoughl/own). Synonyms and antonyms are determined nsmg

Rogers thesaurus. Tbe se&discrepancy score is computed by subtracting the number o f

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. matches from the number o f mismatches. T6e score may range from -IQ to +10, with

higher scores indicating greater discrepancy. The questionnaire was modified by Higgins ct

a l. (1987) to measure degree o f match or mismatch by including ratings o f the extent to

winch the person actually possess, ideally wants to possess; or should possess tbe attribute.

Using this method, it is possible to determine that a slight mismatch exists between, fbr

example, the actual/own attribute “slightly attractive” and the actual/ideal attribute “very

attractive:”

Higgins (1987) has emphasized tfae importance o f using an idiographic approach to

measure sclf-discrcpancics in order to be sure that attributes listed and fated are most

salient and important to tfae individual. However, tbe Selves Questionnaire obviously

requires a tremendousamount o f time and effort on tbe part o f the researcher to code the

responses. For this reason, TangncyctaL (1998) included a nomothetic measure o f sclf-

discrepancy. They presented participants with 60 experimenter-chosen adjectives, and

asiccd participants to rate each adjective on the extent to which it described them, using a

scale from I (very troe) to 7 (not at a ll tm e) for each o f the self-representations For

example, participants rated the extent to which “adventurous” described them as they

perceive themselves to be (actual/own), as they believed others perceived them

(actual/other), as they aspired to be (ideal/own), etc. Tbe sum o f ratings fo r each domain

was calculated. Self-discrepancy scores were catcuhted by subtracting one sum from the

other for each pair o f seifrepresentations.

Tangncy ctaL (1998) report no difference in results using cither their easier (for

the experimenter) nomothetic adjective ratings list or Higgins ctaL’s (1987) kfiographic

Selves Questionnaire, However, both methods have limitations that could lead to their

inability to identify unique sdfreprescntatibns. Tangney et aL (1998) argped that tfae 34

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ijinpiirMr approach may hy tort fry mapy rwpnrotwil^ ! to IimiMiwn in

vocabulary, and fatigue that results from attem ptingtolist new adjectives on sixdiffereat

pagcs.Inotherwords, they speculate that participants simply become “overtaxed and

d istra cted. T h ey m ay lose sig ht o f the subtle distinctio ns between various sctfg u id cs and

so provide largely identical lists afselfdcscriptors. Finally, an earlier lis t may serve as a

pshne fb r subsequent lists, again resulting in largely duplicate sdf-guide descriptors,** (p.

26SK

Although the nomothetic, adjective ratings task avoids the difficufty o f generating

so many different words, it is also likely to contain many adjectives which are neither

salient nor important to the respondent, and to omit other adjectives which are important to

that indrvicbiaL Thus, this method may fid to adequately capture selfdiscrepancies among

individuals. A further problem with the method o f Tangney et a i. (1998) is suggested by

the fact that “one o f the most frequently asked questions Airing our data collection

sessions...was, ‘What’s the difference between ideal and ought?’” (p . 265). Although the

authors seem to suggest this is evidence that tfae different self-discrepancies are

indistinguishable, it seems more likely to be evidence o f failure to provide sufficient

instructions to participants.

It seems plausible that tfae failure o f Tangney etaL (1998) to replicate the findings

o fHiggins etaL (1985) is due to their inability to obtain measures o f unique self-

disaepancies. Without these specific sdfofiscrepancics, it would be impossible to find

evidence fee distinct relationships between the different sclfrdiscrcpancxcs and d ifferent

emotions. Thus, a method fo r assessing sci£disciepancy dataflow s fo r kfiograpinc

responding, addresses lim ited vocabulary and participant fatigue, and provides dear

instructions is needed Allowing participants to generate their own attributes madtfitioBto 35

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. providing a fa t o f attributes should address these first two concerns. Participants w ill be

able to generate or select the attributes most salient to them as individuals; but w ill also be

able to refer to a large pool o f words when they have difficulty generating new words due

tovocabulary lirnitationsorfatigue. Verbal instructions withan opportunity for

n n iffim

Fatally,. mcfatdfng the concept o f m orality fa the description o fthe ought self

should beip clarify the distinction between ideal and ought Higgins et aL (1985) inchided

the concept o f morality in their description ofthe ought self. They refer to “offending one’s

sense o f morality” (p . 54) when describing the consequences o fan actual/own-ougbt/own

seifc&crepancy, and to “violatihg others* rules and sense o f morality’* (p. S4) when

describing the consequences o f an actual/own-ought/othcr sclfdiscrepancy. hstrnctiops

describing the ought self have typically not explicitly included this concept o f m orality. It

seems likely, though, that doing so would help clarify the distinction between ideal and

ought For example; a person may ideally hope to be wealthy, but is unlikely to believe he

or she is morally obligated to be wealthy.

The Ilndesirrd Self

As described in detail above; Higgins’ (1987) selfdiscrcpancy theory proposes

three basic domains ofthe s e lf the actual, ideal, and ought Ophne (1987), however; has

argued that Higgins neglects an important fourth domain o f the self: the undesired. Ogilvie

argues that the ideal self is im plicitfy contrasted with the actual s e lf such that that which is

not ideal is assumed to he the actuaLTo p it tfae teal self in opposition to the ideal self nay

rob the ideal self o f its mote logical rival, the un4dcal self, an aspect o f the self system that

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. we w ill refer to as the undesired sei£” (p. 380}. Although bis argument that tbe actual self

i« tmpKwrfy tr> hf “in nppnwti^n” (f|^ i^ f fwn«»ir H ifflrinn rffe

undesiredseifdoes seem to be an important construct.

O gilvie hypothesized that tfae undesircd self is based more on experience (e g .,

memories ofembarrassing events, unwanted emotions) tban tbe ideal self; and is therefore

more concrete and less abstract. “In this sense, it is postulatcdtftat -.comparcd to the ideal

s e lf [the undesited seH} Is a. more embedded and misfaakahie standard against which one

judges bis or faer present level o f weH-being.” (p . 380X These hypotheses were largely

based on a case study in which a prototypc-anaiysis method was applied to investigate

differing beliefs about tfae self m (fifferent roles. The subject far tfae case example reported

that she imagined her life changing a great deal (L e , becoming much more satisfying) if

her negative roles (seives) were to disappear, but that she imagined her life would change

very little if any o f her positive roles (selves) were to disappear (cited in Ogilvie, 1987;

Ogflvie&Oaric, 1992).

O gitvic(1987) hypothesized that there is a positive correlation between distance o f

the teal and ideal selves and life satisfaction, such that the closer tbe real and ideal selves

are (Le^ tfae less tfae tealndeal self-discrepancy), the greater life satisfaction is. He also

hypotbesized that there is a negative correlation between distance o ftoe real and uadesued

selves and life satisfaction, sacb the closer the real and undesired selves are; the less life

satisfaction is. Finally, Q giivic hypothesized that the distance between real and undesited

selves is a better predictor o flifc satisfaction than is the distance between real and ideal

selves.

Qgjhrieamdactedastody w i& 45 undergradaatestotest these hypotheses. H e

uscdavcry complex idiographic matrix anaiysrstodetermincactoal-tdeai and actual- 37

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. nwfamwii HwffwpwiMM fe rrfi* Pjfftifrp n tt akft iF^pwwjf^ ^ tfiup jtw iK

intended to measure overall life satisfaction. Ogilvie found support fee a ll three

hypotheses: tfae distance between real and ideal selves was positively correlated w ith life

satisfaction, tfae distance between reai and undesired selves was negatively coftdated with

life satisfaction^ and distance between teal and uridesired selves was a stronger predictor o f

life satisfaction than distance between rea> and ideal selves. O gilvie also found in itial

support fbr the hypothesis that attributes o f the undesired self are more concrete than

attributes o f tfae ideal self.

Ogilvie and Clark (1992) summarized tfae results o f several otfaer studies (most o f

which are nnpuMi.shcri undergraduate honors theses) investigating tfae relationship between

tfae undesired selfand life satisfaction among older adults and high school students, m

addition to college students. These results indicate that the undcsired self is not simply the

opposite oftbe ideal self; but rather contains different kinds o f information. la addition,

rather than moving closer to the ideal s d f as one moves festber from tbe undesued self; and

vice versa, tbe two selves seem to be more independent constructs. Additional evidence

was also cited that tfae real-undesired seifdiscrepancies predict depression better than real-

wfcal ffffHwutjpanript

Interestingly, nearly a ll o f the studies cited by Ogilvie and Clark (1992) found a

consistent gender difference; with actual-undesired discrepancies predicting distress more

for females than males. Based on cootent-anaiyses o f narrative data from some o f these

stmties, tfig anthnr* noted that tuere mrarR mrira lilre ly than m alM tnatinptat^tliw r

tmdesued selves urith specific past incident involving negative interpersonal relationships.

The autbocs suggest feat females” tendency to pay more attention to interpersonal

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. idathmslHps and to better encode emotional memories may lead to more concrete

undcsircd-sclf schemata white males tend to have a more vague sense o f their undesircd

s e lf.

Although Ogilvie (1987; Ogilvie & Clark, 1992) implicates culture m his

discussion o fthe undcsired-sctf be (fa)cs no t atplicirty discuss bow cultural differences

might affect the relative salience or acressibi I ity o f the undesired s e lf compared to the

other domains o f the self (ideal or ought). Cheung (1997), however, has argued that

cultural differences may indeed make the undesired self more accessible fbr Asian

Americans. Since Asian cultural values stress interdependence and avoidance o f toss o f

face, Cheungargued that failure to avoid the undesired self may be a better predictor o f

ffeprMmrm than feilnm tr> attain the i r f w i l amnng n > i n w anH f T i i i i ^ AmffWUH Ife

further hypothesized that self-discrepancies from the standpoint o f significant others would

be better predictors o f depression than sclfcdiscrepancics from the standpoint o f the

“individuated self,” (p. 351).

Cheung (1997) used a sample o f 84 Chinese early adolescents (ages 10 -1 4 ) living

m Hong Kong. Cheung then used interviews to collect data regarding self-discrepancics

from both the standpoint o f the individuated self and the standpoint o f the self in relation to

others. To determine the most salient “self in relation to others” identity, Cheung had

participants lis t up to 10 people with whom they interacted tegulariy along with the

rasnriatett mlfer»f the participant in that rehtirmgh ip Rnr amnpli»t iflfca prtiM pnr twtoit

“mother** as the M gniffcanr other, “ m n ” n r wnulrf he I L < d ^ as the cnrnsipnnHing

tote. The participant was then asked to select which o f the 10 roles “he or she most often

conceives...himself or herself to be;” (p. 352).

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. repwscinatioasfiom the itfanrfpo irtsoftfac individuated sclfand salient role. For example,

participants mere asked te name tfae qualities o f the settle fee role ofdaughter that she

ideally aspuedto be or to have (ideal/cwn/salicnt identity), the qualities o fthe self in the

role o f daughter tfaat her mother aspired for faer to be ortofaave(idcaf/othet/salient

identity), and tte qualities o ftbe selfthat be or she ideally aspired to be or to faatve

(ideal/own/individuated identity). There were thus eight self-rcprescntations assessed: ideal

/ own / salient identity, ideal / own / individuated identity, ideal / other / salient identity,

ideal/other/individuated identity, undesired/own/salient identity, undesired/own/

individuated identity,, undesired/otber/salient identity, undesired / other / individuated

id e a lity .

To determine discrepancy from tfae actual self; each attribute was lead back to tfae

participant one hy one; and the participant was asked to tate each quality oe the extent to

which ft applied to him or her at that time: Thus, an attribute rated as “completely applies

to tucT would indicate no discrepancy, while an attribute rates as “completely does not

apply to me” would indicate a large discrepancy. Ratings were then averaged fo r each setf-

discrepancy to obtain overall self-discrepancy scores fb r each type o f self-discrepancy.

Participants also completed the Depressive Experiences Inventory (D E I) at the

tim e o f the scif^hscrcpancy interviews and again eight mouths later. Rcsafts mrficatcd that

at Time 1 and Time 2, actual/ideal/individuated identity and actual/undesired/

individuated identity were most strongly correlated with depression. Ib is was contrary to

die expectatMQ that seffdiscwpancMsiq terms o f the salient role identity would be most

predictive o fdepression. However; Cheung docs not report whether os not the differences

in correlations are stataticaBys^iifiRanl, so ft is possible that the different standpoints on 40

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the self arc actnafysim ilariy predictive o f distress. Hierarchical regression analyses,

however; indisated A rc actual / undesired / salient role identity is most predictive o fTime

2 depression scores, supporting both tbe hypothesis tia tt undesired discrepancies arc more

predictive o fdepression than ideal discrepancies; and that discrepancies from tbe

standpoint o f tbe salient role arc more predictive oddepressian than discrepancies from tbe

standpoint o ftbe individuated self.

Tbe research conducted by Cheung (1997) and Ogilvie (1987; Ogilvie & Clark,

IW ) Aafa little light mi f|j^ rehtimw^jp (jiyp-panri^ m A

anxiety. None o f the research cited by Ogilvie and Clark (1992) investigated tbe

relationship between actual/undesired self-discrepancy and anxiety. Cheung’s (1997)

research included an “agitation and performance deficit” subscale. Bivariate correlations

suggested Are subscale was more strongly correlatedwith actual/undesired discrepancies

(.56 fbr acftal/nndcsired/individuatcd identity and 3 2 for actual/undesircd/salicnt role

ufaatily) tfam artnal/itfoai itwempanwij* (- X> ftrartwal/iilMt/inifhntfciaffif id e n tity an/t -2 2

for actual/ideal/salient role identity). Again, statistical significance o fthe differences in

correlation were not offered, making this interpretation suggestive a t most. Tbe author's

interpretation o ftbe hierarchical regression analysis, however, indicated that actual/idcal

discrepancies were most predictive o f agitation and performance deficit. It is unknown

what tbe items on tfae “agitation and performance deficit” snbscale are, though, making it

uncertain to what extent scores on this subscale really reflect anxiety.

The ratkaak foe expecting a relationship between actual/undesired scff-

discrepancies and anxiety is based on the interpretation offailure to avoid the undesired as

to Higgins' (1987) original reasoning; an actnaiftfcal selfdisctepancy is associated with 41

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ifcpw ttinn i t wpiwntc p«iHw mitmin^g tm A ffm* lw ifeti\

dejection, while aaactnal/ooght discrepancy is associated w ith anxiety because k

ieptesentstheptescnceofacgativc outcomes and thus leads to agitatioo. Given that tfae

failure to avoid tbe undesired seems to represent the presence o fnegative outcomes more - " '-s. ’+ + ‘*+ * sotbaatbeabsenceofpositivc outcomes, it seems togicaltfaat the failure to avoid the

undesired wooid be associated w ith agitation-related emotions such as anxiety.

The above section has shown bow Higgins’ (I9S 7) theory o fseffdiKicpancy was

unique because it provided specific hypotheses about the unique emotional consequences

o f holding different types o f self-discrepancies. Higgins’ three domains o f tbe self (actual,

ideal, and ought) and two standpoints on tfae self(own and other) yield six different seif-

rrpresntfafions. A discrepancy between the actual and ideal selves, Higgins posited, leads

to dqcctioiwclatcd emotions while a. discrepancy between the actual and onght selves

leads to agitation-related emotions. Higgins went on to specify that the availability and

arrfMihility nf the varinng

emotional discomfbtt experienced by an individual at any given tune. The more available

(i.e^ the greater tfae magnitude o f) a discrepancy, the more intense the discomfort. The

store accessible tfae (fiscsepancy (through recent o r fieqpent activation or relevance to fee

situation), the more likely that discrepancy is to be activated, and the more likely the

conscrgicncesofthat discrepancy (dejection or agitation) arc to be experienced Empirical

support fo r these predictions was reviewed, along w ith a discussion o f methodological

reasons w hy T an g n eyetaL (1 9 9 8 ) m ay have fe ik d to fin d support fo r th is theory.

The concept o f the undesired self as a fourth domain o f the self was also

unreduced and riisenned, afoog w ith Banted evidence that an actuatfundesnedsdf- 42

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. discrepancy may be a better predictor afdepression than an actualAdealse&disctepancy.

The speculation that the undesired-seifmay beapartkulariy salient setfguide among

Asian Americans due to the Asian cultural emphasis on avoiding loss of& ce over gaining

face was also discussed. In other words, Asian Americans are more likely to interpret

sifa rations in terms o£ “tfave 1 lost face?” than, ‘Tfa.vc i gained face?" This catogal

emphasis would seem to make the arhiaf/iindesifed sclf-discrcpancy more accessible fb r

Asian Americans through a ll three routes: it Is likely to be more frequently activated,

increasing the likelihood that it has been more recently activated, and it is also more Kkety

to be judged relevant to a negative situation than an actual/ideal or actual/ought self-

discrepancy. Since the actualAindcsired discrepancy is expected to be predictably more

accessible fo r Asian Americans, it is expected that the emotional consequences o f the

actuaiAmdesircd discrepancy would be most common among Asian Americans, and that

the actuaiAmdesircd discrepancy w ill be more predictive o f emotional discomfort than

other d iscrepancies.

Finally, the above section reviewed the rationale for expecting that an

actuaiAmdesircd discrepancy should he associated w ith anxiety mote so than with

depression. Although a ll o f the research on actnalAmdesned discrepancies reviewed above

found a relationship with depression, only one o f these studies provided any results

suggestive ofthe relationship o factuaiAmdesircd discrepancies to anxiety. One subscale o f

the Depressive Experiences Inventory used by Cheung (1997) was an “agitation and

p ifricmji i^ Sffahr fn m tahniw imtfafwl iln» artnalAmib«M(j(|

discrepancies were more strongly correlated w ith this subscale than were actualfideai

itwrwpynwc m ilile thy wgptlinn jm firatwt rfwt afhalfcfeit iW rop iw c

were the strongest predictor ofTim c 2 scores on this subscate Crven that none o f the hems 43

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. on the subscale were offered in the article: and that the suhscale is part o fa depressive

experiences inventory, it is difficult to determine whether the subscale truly reflects

aroricty-rclatcdsyinptorns. Thus,thcdataregardingthcreIationslupbctwcen

artnal/myfafiml A mpminw and ammty nnnfp TH^lngiaat ntiimfe

remains, however, that lading to avoid the undesired represents the presence o f negative

outcomes and therefore should be associated w ith agftatjoo-related emotions more than

with dqectuawelated emotions.

Optunism/Pessimisin and Depression Among Asian Americans

Optimism and pessimism have been defined in slightly different ways in the

literature (Chang, D’Zurilia, & Maydeu-Olivarcs, 1994). Some authors, notably Scheier

and Carver (1985), have defined optimism and pessimism as, “generalized positive and

negative outcome expectancies” w hile others, “have defined these concepts more broadly

as a positive and negative outlook on life,” (Chang etaL, 1994, p. 144), h i addition to

these slight discrepancies in definition, Chang etaL also noted that there has been

disagreement in the literature over whether or not optimism and pessimism are opposite

ends o fa single continuum, and therefore orthogonal, or whether optimism and pessimism

represent separate dimensions. Chang etaL (1994) factor analyzed several measures o f

optmusm/jpessim ftm and found Kttfcevidencesupportmg the conceptualization o f these

ran«tnirt«** nrttm gnna l

Later, these authors (Chmig, Maydeu-Olivares, and D’ZuriQa, 1997) replicated

these findings that optimism and pessimism are at least partially independent constructs.

They also inchided several additional measures, such as measures o f depression,fife

satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. Results indicated that optimism and 44

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. j»»«m«wii> Hjflwwi^ally tlw uM i t i r m a lip^fflpy Bamltf aim fnHicgtwt

However, this relationship between pessimism and depression may not generalize

across cultural groups. Chang etaL (1987) do not report tbe racial/ethnic composition o f

their sample. Anotherstudy that (fid explicitly look at differences between Asian

Americans and European Americans (Cbanfe 1996) found a different relationship between

optimism/pessimism and depression between tbe two groups. Consistent w ith the results

o f Chang etaL (1997), pessimism was found to be tfae strongest predictor o f depression

among European Americans, Among Asian Americans, however, lack o f optimism was

found to be the strongest predictor o f depression. Chang further found that as pessimism

increased, problem solving behavior decreased among European Americans, but increased

among Asian Americans.

Culture and Emotional Distress

Despite accumulated evidence fo r biological substrates o f both depression and

anxiety, it remains dear that they result fiom a complex interaction o f biological, social,

and cognitive factors. Given what we know about culture’s effects on social meaning and

cognition, it should not he surprising that cuftute affects the experience and expression o f

“Dysphoria” -sadness, hopelessness, unhappiness, lade o f pleasure, with the itm ip nfH i^ni^M aiwt mith «nfql — fay ^jp imtipally nranmg and form of i-rpn-gginn m iftftWrn* BnrBmMliMf feiWng pleasure from things ofthe world and social rehtionshipsisfaebasraofaB suffering; a wiDful dysphoria is thus the fits t step! oa the toad to salvation. For the Shr’itc Muslims in ban, griefisardigious experience, associated

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. w ith recognition o f tbe tragic consequences o f Kvingjpistiy in a it unjust world; tfae ability to experience dysphoria, fu lly istlm sa marker o f depth o f person and understanding. (Klemman& Good; 1 9 85 . p . 3 )

Thns, the symptoms o f depression and other forms ofem otional distresses

defined by tfae Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM ;APA, 1994), may cany very

different meanings in other cultures. Below; evidencetfiatsymptoms o f depression and

anxiety are experienced and expressed differently fay Asian Americans and European

Americans w ill be reviewed, including a brief discussion o f tfae cnlture-specific anxiety

disorder ta iiin Icvofiisho. Special attention w ill be paid to tfae issue o f somatization among

Asam Americans Explanations fb r these differences between groups tfaat have been

offered in tfae literature w ill be discussed throughout,

rnhnralffifferencesqi tfae experience and expression o f depression and anxietv

There is some evidence tfaat depression may be experienced differently, or that tfae

symptoms o f depression may cany different meanings, for Asian Americans as compared

to European Americans- Factor analyses d standard (Western) measures o f depressive

symptoms (M arsella, Kinzie, & Gordon, 1973) and cross-language comparisons o f

emotional words (Emada, 1989) have suggested differences between Asian Americans and

European Am ericans,

In an early study, M arsdlactal. (1973) factor analyzed responses to a standard

seffcrepcrt measure o f depressive symptoms, the Zang Self-Rating Depression Scale

(Zang, 1965), and to a longer sclfreport symptom checklist designed by the authors to

paovide an “exhaustive” lis t o f depressive symptoms. Participants were 130 third-

generatioo bpancse Americans, 36 tfaini-gencration Chinese Americans, and 30 European

Americans, aB o f whom had endorsed “clinically significant” levels o f depressive

s y m p fn m c a n an earfigr aAnm wtrafinn n f tf»«> T iing

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. There were several differences among groups in the experience o f depression

indicated by tfae factor analysis. First were d ifferences in “existential" synq>toins(e.g,

“feels hollow or empty,” “feels useless?*). Existential symptoms loaded strongly on three o f

lie five factors obtained fo r the Japanese Americans and tfareeofthc six factors obtained

fo r tie European Americans, bos existential symptoms loaded strongly on only one o f die

five factors for the Chinese Americans.

Second, for both the Japanese- and Chineso-Amcricans, cognitive symptoms o f

depression (e.g^ “thoughts are slowed down,”) were ait clustered together on one factor,

white for the European Americans, cognitive symptoms tended to load w ith odicr types o f

symptoms oo other factors, h i other words, te r tfae Japanese-and Chinese-American

imtiwpmto li^ M tf e r th e PmmiMn tmwiBMM engnitiw «ymptf»my

a imupif an/t lihnwicinn n f(frpf^finp

Third, only the Chinese American participants seemed to evidence a unique

somatic component o f depression. That is, for the Chinese American participants, a

separate factor was obtained fo r somatic symptoms (c.g., “suffers from headaches”), while

for the European Americans and Japanese Americans, somatic symptoms did not chister

together on any one factor. The osue o f somatic symptoms o f depression among Asian

Americans w ill be focused on in more detail below. Finally, a unique interpersonal

componeotof depression emerged forthe Japanese American participants, bat not for

either ofthe other groups. In other words, interpersonal symptoms o fdepression (eg^.

“unable toget along with, other people,”) clustered together for the Japanese Americans,

Igtiutfcrtfc^Rin^iMn f w Pfciiiptf Aim w i» ^

Another study (Chang, 1985) that factor-analyzed the responses o f Chinese,

European American, and A fiiean American students on theZan g found sm rihrdiffewaccs 47

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in factor structure. The factor that explained tfae most variance fig the Chinese Undents was

composed mostly o f somatic items; while the factor that explained the most vaiiance for

the European Americans was composed o f cognitive and cxistentiat items. This is

consistent w ith the findings o f Marsefla etaL (1973) that neither cognitive nor existential

symptoms clustered together into separate factors for European Americans, and that

somatic symptoms did cluster together on one factor far Chinese Americans The factor

analysis further indicated that for the Chinese participants, cognitive symptoms were

correlated w ith selfesteem symptoms.

These differences in the factor structure ofthe Zung are particularly interesting

given that tfae two groups did not differ in their levels o f endorsement o f 18 o fthe 20 items

on the Zung. The only items on which the groups differed were, “I have trouble with

constipation," and “I am restless and can't keep s tiff” both o f which were endorsed more

by Chinese than European American participants.

Taken together, these factor analysis results suggest that symptoms o f depression

duster differently fo r European-, Chinese-, and Japancsc-Amcricans such that, for

example, cognitive symptoms o f depression co-occur with different types o f other

symptoms fa r the different groups. Thus, a European American who reports cognitive

symptoms o f depression can not be assumed to be experiencing the same form o f

depression as an Asian American.

h i addition to the above evidence that there may be different symptom structures

underlying depression between Asian and European Americans, there is other evidence that

the symptoms o f depression and anxiety may themselves vary somewhat between cultures.

A t feast two studies have used word associations or other semantic tad s to investigate tfae

symptoms associated w ith different types o f distress. 48

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. An early study (Tanaka-Matsumi & Marseila, 1976) asked Japanese, Japanese

American, and European American c o llie studfcnts to list the first three associations that

came to mind fo r tfae stimulus word “depression” (fo r the European American and

Japanese American students) or “vu-utsu” (tfae Japanese word detesmined by the authors to

be closest m meaning to “depression;” this word was presented to tfae Japanese students).

Some differences in tbe words most associated w ith each ofthe emotional terms emerged.

For the Japanese participants, only three words were associated with vu-utsnbv

10% or more o f the participants: (a) ram, rainy, or rainy season (ameL tsuvu; 35.3% o f

participants); (b ) dark or black flcurai. kuro: 16% o f participants); and (c) worries fnavami:

10.0% o f participants! Other words associated with vu-utsu bv the Japanese paitkapams

inclndcd: gray. doudv. suicide. solitude, exams, depressing (uttoshiri. disease. tiredness,

headache, fatigue, melancholy, terrible thing, and gloomy. For tfae Japanese Americans,

three words were associated with depression by 10% or more o f the participants: (a) sad or

sadness (563% o f participants); (b) lone, lonely, or loneliness (25.3% o f participants); and

(c ) down (18.9% o f participants). Other words associated with depression by the Japanesc-

American participants included: frustrated, low, failure, blue, tired, unhappy, die, money,

empty, moodiness, gloomy, and anxiety. Finally, four words were associated with

depression for 10%ormoreaftfaeHuropean Americans participants: (a) sad or sarfaess

(43.2% o f participants); (b ) lonely or loneliness (21.2% o f participants); (c) down (13.7%

o f participants); and (d ) unhappy or unhappiness (13.0% o f participants). Other words

associated w ith depression by the European American participants included: low, bine,

gloomy, failure^ upset, anxious, tired^ fiustrated; aloocy and suicide.

ft should be noted, however, that only one word fo r only one ofthe three groups

niM» tftmnhc n m n i l y imwthanfcalf(«arf

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. f ir the Japanese Americans); uuficatm fcliiat Aerowas little consensus oa symptoms o f

depression within any group. Abo; tfae tm siatiott o fthe Japanese tenos into English may

pose sotne problems For examples how sim ilar is the word navanri in Japanese, {translated

as “w orries^ to the Engtkh wnrrf <*amtin««f*7 Da tfaecnior wnrifa Inirat h im flrb n m

(translated as dark, black, and gray, respectively) cany any meaning sim ilar to “Mae” m

English? One dear difference between tbe groups was tbe number o f somatic or physical

symptoms associated w ith depression or y s tS S A Tor tbe Japanese Americans and

European Americans, only one somatic word, “tired,” was listed (by 6.4% and 4.7% o f

participants, respectively). However, four somatic words (disease, tiredness, headache, and

fatigue) were listed by tbe Japanese participants (5.3% , 4.7% , 4.&% , and 4.0% o f

pa»tyi'pant« respectively)

The authors commented that the associations oftbe Japanese participants seemed

to duster around “external, concrete referents rather than internal emotional referents,”

(Tanaka-Matsumi & Marseila, 1976, p. 385), while tbe associations o f tbe Japanese

American and European American participants were more internal and quite sim ilarto

each other. Indeed, the top three associations for these latter two groups were identical.

Tanaka-Matsumi and Marseila discuss these bctwcca-groups differences in terms o f

cultural differences in the self Specifically, they argue that the tendency ofthe Japanese

participants to experience depression in “outer-directed” forms is coosistent with Japanese

culture’s de-emphasis o f the individual self. “Asserting one’s individual emnrinnal state

does not comply w ith the predominant emphasg on the sncBil affinity and coHaterafity o f

the Japanese group. To the extent that the Japanese culture docs not reinfbrce the

independent cntfy o f the sel£ Japanese tend to project their mood to external referents and

avoid uwfividnali7atioo o f then-mood,” (p . 390) l SO

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Anotherway in which the interdependence afAsian culture may influence the

expression ofem otional distress may be seen in the culture-specific disorder Jagg

kvofosbo. which is a form o f social anxiety unique to Japanese culture^ In ta ii in kvotfiisha.

tfae person is worried that he or she wiQ attend others by behaviors such as enuttuig a

noxious odor or blushing (Kixmayer, I9 9 II Bothtaiiinkvofi»tft?im<* </,l,*ai **

definedbyDSM -iV, are sim ilar in that both are characterized by anxiety about and

avoidance c f social situations, A key difference, however, is that the social phobic is afraid

o f embarrassing him or herself while the taiiinkvofasho sufferer is afraid o f emhanasjunp

others (Kfeinkncchf. DinncL Kfcinknccht. Hiiuma. &Hirada. 1997).

K Idnknechf etaL (1991) argued that this edicr-focuscd quality o f taiiinkvofosho

is coosisteot w ith tbe interdependent. group-oriented nature o fJapanese culture, white the

self-focused quality ofsocial phobia is consistent with tfae independent nature ofWestem

culture. Indeed, they found that independence was negatively correlated with social anxiety

and taiiin kvcrfusbo among bofo Japanese and European American participant* h o tte r

words, a more independent sdfconstrual was associated with lower overall social anxiety.

T b i* is consisteat with other studies that have found independent seffconstrual to be

negatively correlated w ith soda! anxiety among Asian and European Americans (Cross;

1995; Okazaki. 1997).

Overlap o fanxiety and depression

Other studies have noted further difference* in how anxiety is experienced and

expressed amoog Asian and European Americans. Imada(19&9) attempted to ,‘“ define* the

Japanese equivalents o f anxiety, fear, and depression." (p. 10). Japanese college students

were presented w ith th e words “Fn-an” fa n x k tv l “K vo-fo” (te a r ! and “Y u-utsa” 51

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (depression), and for eadr were asked to think o fa specific personal experience w ith that

emotion. The participants were then instructed to choose from a lis t ofovcr500 statements

those that described their experience o f that emotion. Those statements that were checked

by more than one-third o f participants were used to “define” each emotional term . This

procedure matched that ofan earlier attempt to “define” the English emotional terms, and

tfuw Hig finm tfg b p a w y pmtiwpant^ CfluH fa? nltfynw l

fiwm tK^ nnpiial Ihitwt ghrtM p ttinipanti

Imada (1989) reported specific differences in tfae meaning associated w ith the

experience ofthe different emnrinns between the tw o gmopg Fnr example, inEhglmh, fear

and anxiety were more sim ilar than depression and anxiety, as evidenced by tfae number o f

defining statements in common than do depression and anxiety. (Defining statements,

again, are those statements marked by more than one-thud o f participants as being part o f

tfadr experience ofthe emotion.) hr Japanese, however, fo-an (anxiety) and vu-utsu

(depression) were found to be more sim ilar than fu-an and kvo-fit (fear). Thirty-five ofthe

fifiy-one (68.6% ) defining statements o f fu-an (anxiety) were also defining statements for

vu-utsu (depression! while only & (15.7% ) ofthe defining statements for fu-an were also

defining statements for Icvo-fa (fear). When the actual defining statements ofthe six

emotional terms were compared fmaife (IQXQ) reported that American p «tinpim >

experience o f both anxiety and depression appeared to be more physical than tfae

experiences o ffe flB and yifejgai reported by the Jiapanese participants. Only fear

English) and kvo-fo fin Japanese) seemed to be experienced as equally physical.

Imada. (1989) also reported that different types ofexpcricntxs seemed to chdt

amrie^fffibMDfiomfcpaneseandAmcsicattrtndmts T5c author asked Japanese and 52

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. American students to describe a specific instance when they bad experienced anxiety (fg r

a n l The author noted that the Americans seemed to cite experiencing anxiety when thcv

wereunableta, “attaingoalstheyareactively pursuing,” (p. 16X while the Japanese were

m orelikety to experience fit® when they expected to “[lose] peace and comfort they have

already attained,” (p .I6 )i Thus, the diifescnces in the definitions ofthe emotional tesms

were likely due to tbe differences in types o f experiences thought o f during tbe defining

tu fa

The overiap between depression and anxiety found by hnada (1989) among

Japanese students is cmsistenl with other research that has fixm d high rates o f co-

morbidity ofanxiety and depression anumg Asians and Asan Americans (eg . K]emman&

Kkuunan, 1985). In fact, some psychologists have called fo r anew diagnostic category o f

mixed anxkty-depression to be included in future editions o f the PSM (Gnamacda, 1997).

Guarnaccia rites data that at occ anxiety clinic, a much higher proportion o f Hispanic

clients received a “NOS" diagnosis than is typical among European American chcnt

populations, and that most ofthcsc clients would have met criteria for a diagnosis o f mixed

anxkty-depression. There are no comparable data for Asian Americans, although other

date do im ply that the cooccurrence o f anxiety and depression may he common among

Asian Americans. For example; m a study o f outpatients at a psychiatric dim e in China,

Kleiranatt and Kleuunan(1985) determined that 71% o f those who met crheria for major

depressive disorder also met criteria for an anxiety disorder.

Ssssiisiisfi

A ll o f the patients studied by Kkinnian and Ktcinnmn 41985) had been diagnosed

hy their Phinegg rinetnremith neuragriignia lfaiB fttiH in nm^mmmnn m tfie

W est, used to describe n syndrome that mcfades symptoms ofphysicaEweakness,

5 3

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. exhaustion, headache, dizziness, and insomnia (Kleinman, 1986; Kleinman Sc K km m an,

1985). Neurasthenia is a very common diagnosis in China, much more cooMaon than a

diagnosis o fdepression. In fect, none ofthe 100 neurasthenia patients studied by

Kfemman and Kkmman had received a diagnosis o f any type o f depressive disorder,

ahhnngh Kleinman and Kleinman repnrteH that fiilly <«% mef criteria for rfiagnnni* n f

some type o f clinical depression.

Many ofthe symptoms ofneurasthenia ate physical symptoms. This is consistent

w ith evidence that Asian Americans, and Chinese in particular, are prone to somatization.

Soma tiration may be defined as, “the expression o f persona l and social distress in an idiom

o f bodily complaints and medical help seeking,” (Kleinman & Kleinman, 1985, p. 430).

Snmenf the m m b * cited ahftMmppnttefeaaw tinB that A«tm AawmaM im m wt

prone to somatization than other groups. For example; the factor analyses o f Chang (1985)

and Marseila et aL (1973) both found somatic symptoms o f depression tended to cluster

together among Chinese and Chinese American participants. Tanaka-Matsumi and

Marseila (19761 also found evidence that the word depression (vu-ntsui was assncaterf

w ith more somatic symptoms among Japanese students than among Japanese American or

European American students. Guarnaccia-(1997) has also argued that the lack o f emphasis

an somatic expressions o f anxiety may make tfae DSM -W less applicable to some Asian

cultures.

Hus evidence toward somatization has been seen as consistent wtth the holistic

Chinese woridview that holds body and mind to be integrated parts ofthe larger

experience, rather th at differentiated components (Tseng, 1973; Cheung & Lan, 1982X

Thus, the psychological is not conceptualized as separate from the physical, and physical

symptoms ate seen as an appropriate expression o f underlying distress. Consistent wife this 54

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. view; factoranaiysesafboth depression (Kuo, 1984; Yang etaL, 1998) and anxiety

(Takeuchi, Kuo, Kim , & Lca£ 1989) scales have shown that affective and somatic

symptoms tend to load on tfae same factor f ir Asian Americans.

It has often been assumed, however, that somatization represents the unconscious

manifestation ofdenicd or repressed affective distress. In other words, it has been assumed

that Asian American* somatize ijgiedLef “psychologize” (Le., express physical instead o f

psychological symptoms), or that they express psychological symptoms less than European

Americans do. On tfae contrary, Lubin and Collins (1985) found that their Chinese

participants repotted more psychological than physical symptoms. Imarfa (1989) sim ilarly

found that Japanese participants reported the experience o f depression (vu-utsul and

anxiety (fu-an) to be less physical than did American participants. Although Chang (19851

found that the responses o f Chinese participants an a standard self-iepoit measure o f

depression indicated an underlying somatic factor, the results indicated that the Chinese

participants did not endorse the more “psychological” symptoms any less than did the

Enmpcan American nr African American participant* Finally (Turnip ami rr.IUagn.-c

(Cheung & Lan, 1982; Cheung, Lau, & Walrimann, 1981) also found that psychological

symptoms were usually reported in addition to somatic symptoms by Chinese patients.

Other evidence also suggests that tfae phenomenon o f somatization among Asian

Americans is not so easily understood. In addition to the assumption that Asian Am erican

express fewer psychological symptoms, there has also been the im plicit assumption that

members afotfaer groups do ng| commonly somatize distress. Other authors (Kleinman &

Kfemman, 198S; Singer, 1975) have noted that “psychologizing” distress is actually a

recent phenomenon in the west, and that somatmng is s tfli common among thoaemitfc fcss

wtiM timt nr tnmw ««•«> «Htn« m n/ftf

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Further, some studies have found that Asian Americans mav actually somatize less

than other groups; For example; the authors o f a study using a large-scale community

sample (Zhang. Snowden.&S ucl 1998) reported that Asian Americans endorsed fewer

somatic complaints than European Americans (although this difference was not reported to

hg datiftipally npiifiBwif) /tnntliw ^impqn Antftii^n

reported signific antly more psychosomatic symptoms than Hong Kong Chinese

adolescents (Chiu, Feldman. & Rosenthal, 1992).

What accounts for perception that Asian Americans are more likely to somatize

than others? A likely explanation is the feet that Asian Americans tend to seek help from

medical rather than psychological settings. Emotional distress is still stigmatized in many

Asian cultures, and several studies have found that Asian Americans tend to seek help from

fam ily, the community, and indigenous healers before finally risking losing face by

seeking help outside the fam ily or larger community (Cheung & Lau, 1982; Zhang.

Snowden, & Sue, 1998). Medical problems are less stigmatized than psychological

problems; so when an Asian American does seek help from an outside source; he or she

may be likely to seek help from a medical setting.

It is not surprising that more physical than psychological complaints might be

reported in medical settings. Many ofthe studies that have found high rates o f somatization

among Asian Americans have been conducted in medical settings (e.j£, hospital dim es).

fTiMmg MM< 1 M (lQg->) ^ cympfninf wiprwiwl hy rhtnwy g

psychiatric and medical outpatient clinic and a prison psychiatric service. Although alt

three settings are medical in nature to various degrees, the authors reported finding

gnn«igtl»nrtfiffcrBneg*n»th^tjip^«nf>ympTn«Ti«BEpnrf^

characteristics o fthe settings in which cfients and patients ate seen have been ignored. SS

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. H m f i b w «i» mn<4< *aA y'*m tiifaru^thpt mppf^ y t h a tAmm Aawn rm c

W I ^ T p n ^ i w ia t «yj^»w> Bijijy itt tfii« p^ nrntfnnn

straightforward. The data may be explained by the demand characteristics o fthe retting in

which the data were co llected: patients seen in medical settings are more likely to report

physical symptoms, and Asian Americans are more likely to seek help in a medical setting.

This help-seeking pattern does not mean that Asian Americans express physical symptoms

to the exclusion o f psychological symptoms. On the contrary, Asian Americans express

psychological symptoms in addition to physical symptoms, often tothe same or even

greater extent than other groups. The expression o f physical and psychological symptoms

bkeiy represents an underlying holistic worldview.

Emotional Distress Among Asian Americans

As suggested above; Asian Americans do not readily seek help horn mental health

piy Httniwn Tn Afian Amfriremt* iini^nitiliTatinn pf m/»ntgl health yyiiuM hag hww

well-documented (Sue & Zane, I9S7; Uba, 1994). Most authors agree that the

inutmtiliMtinn itn>« nn# rrfw t a Inni^f nwit fef AlWHT /tmwifanf tmt

rather reflects the perception by many Asian Americans that mental health services arc not

accessible or appropriate. Supporting this assertion, numerous studies over tfae last 25 years

havcindicatcdthat Asian Americans suffer from emotional distress to a degree as great as

ng greater thaw «faa» «wflfrrwl fry Pnmp-aw Ammw.it

(e g , fay considering between-groups differences in nwooe or fife events). Before

MmmtngiaW w nfcrftii^p tB H irtn rerfmflrinnal <§»«*«» aw-for A«j«Am m m m

however, the literature establishing that Asian Americans do in fact suffer from emotional

datress w ill be considered in order to support the argument that Asian Americans are not 57

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. underutilizing mental health services because there is less need fo r these services. Hus

soetion o fthe literature review focuses on evidence in that there is in fact an unmet need

ftgiwiiiew ifl^ A«mt Amwan«m ifann«^tnit>«t hy«fc> miwnwf that

found a comparable or higher rate ofdistress among Asian Americans, as compared to

other groups. Then, factors that have been found to correlate with o r predict emotional

datress among Asum Americans w ill be discussed.

Prevalence

The finding that Asian Americans suffer from emotional distress to a sim ilar or

greater degree than European Americans hasobtained fb r a variety o f samples. Among

college students, fb r example; an cariy study (Marseila, Sanborn, Kamcoka, Shizum, &

Brennan, fennH that niinwa. anrf t n

tenrg tlightly fcighy thanf*TftfdffntS fflt ntfaoit^r t f ( ^ fw ann ami

depressive symptoms The study was designed to cross-validatc five d ifferent selfreport

measures o f depression: the Bede Depression Inventory (BD I; Beck, 1967), the KAS-

Hogarty Depression Scale (K stz& H bgaity, 19*71, cited inMaiseQa etaL, 1975), the

Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist (MAACL; Zuckerman & Lubin, 1965), tfae Zaag

Depression Scale (Zun& 1965), and the Minnesota Muitipbasic Personality Inventory

Depression Scale (M M PI; Hathaway & McKinley, 1942). Participants were Chinese

American, Japanese American, and European American undergraduate students in H aw aii

A lthough the authors found that different measures yielded somewhat different

scows fo r thegroups, European American men scored tfactawest o f allgroups on a ll five

measures. There mas an apparent gender efffce^ with women o f each group generally

scom g higher than th e m en on mostm casuress. H ow ever, fa pancs e -and €fcmcse»ABKricaa

women had higher scores than European American women on a ll five measures. The

8 |

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. authors did note that fo r a ll groups on a ll measures, scores fe ll within the “normal” range,

fit addition^ the authors (fid not establish statistical significance o£the between-groups

d ifferences. Despite these two points, however, there remains a dear trend toward Asian

Americans aattm study scoring higher, relative to European Americans, on multiple

Other studies using college students have found such differences even more

convincingly. A study conducted in California (Aldwin & Grecnbcrgcr, 1987) with

Korean- and European American participants found that the Korean American students

reported significantly more symptoms o f depression than the European American students.

Studies that have included a more diverse sample o f Asian Americans (Le^ combined

samples o£ for example, Chinese-. Korean-, and Japanese-American students) sim ilarly

fcund that the Asian American students scored significantly higher than the European

American students on standard self-report measures o f depression (Gratch, Bassett, &

A ttra. 1995; Okazaki, 1997) and social anxiety (Okazaki, 1997).

Studies using adult community samples have also found that Asian Americans tend

to be at least as if not more depressed than European Americans Among samples o f 499

Asian Americans residing in Seattle (Kuo, 1984X 762 Korean women in New York (Shin,

1993X and over600 Korean immigrants living in Chicago (Hurh & Kim , 1990Xthe

average score on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D;

Radfctfi; 1977) was higher than averages reported in previous studies o f European

American samples. In addition, the proportion ofthc Asian American sample scoring

w ithin hr the depressed range was also higher than previously reported proportions o f

European Americans scoring within that range. This is consistent w ith other research

(FnnhfcR iK , 1990} that found that proportion* n f O iingte and Vietnamese immigrant-

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. women who obtained scores on the CES-D suggestive o f clinical depression (35% and

2 4 % ,respectively) were higher than the proportion o f individuals fiom a nocmal female

community sample (20% ). Again, statistical significance o f these differences was not

reposted, but the trend fo r Asian Americans to endorse levels o f distress as hjjgfr as or

h i^ier than those endorsed by European Americans remains. Gives, that the CES-D

emphasizes the affective component o f depression (Radloff; 1997), the findings that Asian

Americans evidence more symptoms o f depression than European Americans on this scale

is particularly striking considering that Asian Americans may be more likely to somatize

distress. These findings also tend further support to the argument given above that even if

Asian Americans are more likely to somatize; they do express emotional distress in

affective or other noo-somatic symptoms.

Finally, the trend has also been reported among the elderly and among adolescents.

A study o f 159 elderly Asian Indians and 145 elderiy European Americans residing in four

urban communities in the United States and four urban communities in Canada found that

nearly 33% more Asian Americans than European Americans (99 versus 65) were in the

“high depression” group. O fthe 140 participants indie “low depression” group, only 60

were Asian American (Fry & Garver, 1982).

Among adolescents, Hong Kong Chinese, firs t- and second-generation Chinese

American high school students (aged 15-18) reported more emotional distress than

European American students (Chiu, Feldman, & Rosenthal, 1992). A community study o f

adolescents (ages 12-17) in Los Angeles found that Asian Americans’ depression scores

were not different than those o f European Americans (Siegel, Aneshcnsci,Tanh, Cantwell,

& Driscoll, 1998). Although not different from European Americans, Asian Americans in

this study were found to endorse less depressed mood than adolescents from other minority 6 0

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. g ftmps (fr.ft, Aftieaa A b m m im iii ami TTift finHing k fimi'hrfav< A «finHingf

(c ^ K o o , I984)that Asian Americans do seem to report less emotional distress than some

o tter minority groups, although other fmdmge indicate that Asian Americans' levels r f

depression are equivalent to those ofothcr minority groops ((hatch ctaL, 1995).

The above review oftoe Mterature oo prevalence o f depressiaii and other fbsms o f

emotional

to demonstrate convincingly that Asian Americans are not in fact in less need o f mental

health services than European Americans.

C orrelates an<* Prerffctngg

The additional stresses associated with immigrant and minority status are likely

contributors the apparently higher rates o f emotional distress among Asian Americans

(Uba, 1994). Many researchers have examined various factors that predict distress among

Asian Americans However, for nearly a ll oftfacse factors, results have been conflicting.

Gender. Consistent with much previous research on gender differences in

depression (see Nafen-Hoeksema&Girgus, 1994), Asian American women and giris have

been found to endorse more symptoms o f depression than men in some studies. Among

community samples, Chinese and Filipino women were found tocxpcricncc more

depression than Chinese and Filipino naen (Knot, 1984). Among college toident samples,

G ratchetai. (1995) found that for their combined sample o f African American, Asian

American, Earopcan American, and Hispanic students, women were more depressed than

men (the authors do not report within-group gender differences). Ngnyen and Peterson

(1992) also reported that in their sample o f Vietnamese students, women were more likely

to be depressed than men. Other studies, however, have not found any differences in levels

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. o f depression between women and men in urban community samples o f Korean

immigrants (H ath & Kim , 1990), Japanese-and Korean- American adults (Kuo, 1984), and

Laotian refugees (Nicassio!, Solomon, Guest, £McCnOough, 1986).

Snrial feefnr* Saiwal wml firinw «nrK marital «nrin-B«nnnmu» «tatn«

(SESX level o f education, and employment status have been found to be refated to

emotional distress among Asian Americans. Married adu its have been fbond to have lower

depression scores than unmarried adults in some studies, (Hurfa& Kim , 1990; Kuo!, 1984X

while another study found no differences in depressive symptoms among Chinese and

Vietnamese women according to marital status (Franks & Faux, 1990).

Evidence regarding the relationship between income and depression is also mixed.

Onestudy found that Asian Americans with fam ily incomes less than S25;000 evidenced

more symptoms o fdepression than those with incomes over $40,000 (Kuo, 1984), and

another study w ith Korean women found a significant correlation between income and

levels o f depression, again with lower incomes predicting greater depression. However,

there appears to be little other evidence that SES is related to emotional distress (Franks &

Faux, 1990X especially once other variables (e.g^ job satisfaction) are taken into account

( H u * & K a n , 1990).

Studies that have explicitly examined educational attainment have also yielded

conflicting results. For example, no relationship was found w ith depressive symptoms

among Laotian refugees (Nicassio etaL, 1986) or Vietnamese and Chinese women (Franks

& Faux, 1990), while a significant relationship was found between depression and

education among Korean women (Shin, 1993). Women with more education were found to

exhibit fewer symptoms o fdepression.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Finally, work-rdatcd variables have been found to have some relationship w ith

emotional distress, although again the findings are not straightforward. Lower occupational

status was associated with greater depression among Vietnamese, but not Chinese, women

(Fianks & Fact, 1990). Those who are unemployed demonstrated more symptoms o f

depression than those who are employed (H urb& K un, 1990; Kuo, 1984), as did those

who arc employed part-tim e, compared to those employed fuO-tune (Kuo, 1984). Job

satisfactionand hours worked were found to be significant predictors o f depressive

symptoms among Korean immigrant men, w ith greater job satisfaction and fewer hours

worked per week associated w ith fewer depressive symptoms (Hmh& Kim, 1990).

Amwig MtetMpLyrf gnwaiim e m nnly jnh nag a

predictor o f mental health. Although being employed was also associated with lower

depression among Korean immigrant women, other work-related variables were not found

to be important predictors o f their mental health. However, unlike for the men, higher

individual earnings were actually associated with increased depression among the Korean

inunigrant women. The authors attributed this to the increased rote-strain fo r these women,

who were likely responsible fo r moat o f the housework in addition to the responsibilities m

predictors or mediators o f emotional distress. Fry and Grover (1982) attempted to

understand how cognitive appraisals ofart upsetting life event affect levels o f depression

among elderiy Asian hufim and European American adults. They fiamd that high

depression Asians perceived that they had significantly less control over an upsetting event

than did high depression European Americans; while low depression A sm s fe lt they had

«gpifican% more control over the upsetting event than did low depression Europcam 63

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Americans. Both low and high depression Asians also evidenced tower sdfcnofidcncc in

their abilities to cope in thc future than did tow depression European Americans. High

depression Asians were also more likely than low depression Asians and the European

Americans to hold themselves responsible for an upsetting event and both groups o f Asians

were less like ly than the high depression European Americans to hold others responsible.

Fry and Grover (1982) suggested these differences in cognitive appraisals o f

upsetting life events is reflective o f Asian cultural values that stress interdependence. They

argued that the Asian partidpauts were more likely to depended their families for support,

which contributed to their decreased sense o fpersonal control and lowered self-confidence

in then abilities to cope w ith future problems on then: own. Depressed European American

participants, on the other hand, were likely to be more independent oftheir families, and

therefore to have a stronger sense o f personal control and confidence m then ability to cope

w ith future problems.

Selfesteem has also been found to be negatively associated with depression.

Among a sample o f262 Korean women living in New York, higher selfesteem was

associated with lower levels o f depression (Shin, 1993). Even after variance (hie to age;

education level, and income was accon nted for, selfesteem was s till a significant predictor

o f depression levels. The author suggested that high selfesteem among immigrants might

be particularly important because it may provide an enhanced sense o f mastery and

competence fo r dealing with accultiirativc stress.

Stressful Gfc events. Not surprisingly. stress has been found to be associated w ith

a n iT M n rf dirtWMaiiifliig A«m> AmwiiaiK w ith

depression among Qiihcsc and Vietnamese women; and number o f stressful life events

was associated with depression among Vietnamese women grants AFam t, 1990). 64

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Although Korean students in anotfier study (fid not report mote stressful life events than

European American students, number o flifc events was significantly correlated with

depressfcmamong theKorean, but not European American, students (A kh rinfe

Greenberger, 1987). Finally, amoog Laotian refugees, greater emigration stress (e g -,

leaving relatives behind in Laos, risking one’s life in emigrating) was associated with

greater depression (Nicassio ct a t. 1986).

TTw. n^tinn^fp j|wiil^|ratinn m ii pm rtim a l

straightforward. Several studies have demonstrated tbat higher levels o f acculturation are

amheiaterf w ith higher levels n f distress amnngAwan American* Amnng Vietnamese and

Victnamesc-Amcrican college students (Nguyen & Peterson 1992), for example; greater

acculturation was significantly correlated with increased depression. The aotbocs

interpreted this finding in terms ofacculturativc conflict, assuming that the more

accuiturated individuals were more likely to experience conflict between their fam ilies'

Vietnamese culture and their own adopted American culture.

Consistent w ith this interpretation that accnttnratico leads to greater values and

fim fly conflict, which in Him lead* to increased emntinnal rfigtmro parent*’ tn iftm a l

values were found to be strongiy associated with depression among a sample o f Korean

American college students (Aldw in & Greenberger, 1987). These authors al«o suggested

that the more traditional the parents’ values were, the more in conflict they would be w ith

the «fndei^«innm m ndem valne* (Korean m ident*’ and Piirnpean American «tnde«t«’

endorsement o f modem values were not found to d iffer). Supporting this hypothesis,

Korean students’ perception that their parents held modem values was associated w ith

decreased levels o f depression.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Contrary to these findings, however, atber researchers have fimnd evidence that

lower acculturation levels are associated w ith higher levels o f emotional distress. For

example, Chiu, Feldman, and Rosenthal (1992) found that first-generation Chinese

adolr.rr.cnfs in the United State and Australia evidenced significantly more symptoms o f

emotional distress than aecond-generation adolescents. Although Qua et aL (fid not

explicitly assess acculturation levels, it seems reasonable to assume that, oo avenge the

first-generation youth were less accnhuratcrf tfcm the sccond-gcncration youth. However,

second-generation youth were found to exhibit more psychosomatic symptoms than firs t-

generation youth, making the relationship between emotional distress and acculturation

difficult to interpret ia this study.

A community study (Kuo, 1984) found that for the Korean, Japanese; and Fffiptno

participants (but not the Chinese participants), first-generation (Le., foreign-bom) Asian

Americans evidence more symptoms o f depression than second-generation (Lc^, American-

born) Asian Americans. Again, i f we assume that first-gpnesation Asian Americans are less

acculturated than second-generation Asian Americans, then these results indicate that

tower acculturation is associated w ith greater depression. In another study, lower

acculturation was associated w ith greater social avoidance among a sample o f Asian

American college students (Okazaki, 1997). Okazaki suggested that less acculturation to

American culture inefodcs less acculturation to American social norms, which would

understandably lead to greater anxiety and avoidance o f social situations.

h i order to understand these apparently conflicting data on the relationship

between acculturation and depression, it seems important to consider the difference

between accultorativc conflict and accultiiia tivc stress. Acculturativc conflict may be

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. acculturation rates o fparents and children. Several authors (Lee e ta l., 2000; Szapocznik&

Kutmes, l*M^} tfnt tmniigmtf femiliiw wpmMMf rftfiwing n tet of

acculturation that lead to conflict ia the fam ify. Thus, accuiturative conflict would be

expected to be greatest for younger and more accutturatedindividoals-those whose

acculturatcdvalucs would be most in confl ictw iththeir older and less accu tor rated fam ily

members. Accultmativc stress, on the other hand, may be defined as the stress that occurs

fo r an inHrviAial a»a re a differentn ifrn m and adjusting to wear < n r ia l

and cultural norms. Thus, accuiturative stress would be expected to be greatest for less

accaiturated individuals—those who are s till in the process o f adapting to the new cutore.

Considering these two different effects o f acculturation, tee results discussed

above are more easily understood. The two studies cited above that found that increased

acculturation was associated w ith increased depression (Aldwin & Greenberger, 1987;

Nguyen & Peterson, 1992) were likely measuring the effects o f accuiturative conflict. Both

ofthesc studies used college student samples. This age group is more likely than older

groups to s till be or more recently have been living at home with the ir parents. The authors

o f both studies also interpreted their finding? as indicative o f accuiturative conflict.

On the other hand, the studies cited above that found lower acculturation to be

associated with higher levels o f distress (Kuo, 1984; Okazaki, 1997) were more likely

measuring the effects o f accumulative stress. Kuo (1984) uliBzed a community sample o f

adults. First-generation adults are likely to be experiencing much more aceukurativc stress

than second generation adults. Also, as adults (participants ranged in age from 18 to 60+),

tte participant u/trg ti« Itlr^ly tn living with ar-n.tti.in»>d pan^f awlmr*r- Klr^ty

to living with more acculturated children. Tims, if the relationship between acculturation

and depression was reflecting accuiturative conflict, wc would s till expect tower

6 7

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. afKnihnrarinw favhg a«mpwt«i mitk inowgg-H

w o u ld b e expected to be on the “O ther sid e" g fth c c o n flic t ( i.e ., the parents).

Okazaki (199?) used a sample o f college students. U n a, we mqgbt expect that

accufcurative conflict might be more salient for her participants; and tbns higher

acculturation to be associated w ith higher distress for these younger participants. However,

Okazaki did not examine the relationship between acculturation and depression, and her

interpretation o f the negative rebtKwUiip between acculturation and social avoidance

«m m « mntiftwrf mift* the ijg Of5tWlflT.

Studies that have explicitly examined the relationship o f accuiturative stress rad

emotional distress have, not surprisingly, found that as acculturatiyc stress increases, levels

o f depression also increase (Nicassio et a t, 1986; Shin, 1993). In a sample o fKorean

women, Shin (1993) found that once variance due to age, education, and income was

accounted fo r, accuiturative stress was not a significant predictor o fdepression.

Presumably, these variables are a ll correlated, suck that women w itii higher incomes and

education levels experience fewer accuiturative stressors than poorer, less educated

wom en.

Finally, fee confusing findings o f Chiu et al. (1992) also seem to make sense in the

context ofthis accuiturative stress/conflict distinction. The finding that first-generation

youth were more likely to experience emotional distress seems to indicate the effects o f

accultiiiativcstress, white the finding.that second-generation youth were mote likely to

SMIIIS to afiwulhmtiw

conflict. G iia e ta l. offer a sim ilar explanation for their findings, and also highlight the

importance o f considering difiereat types o f symptom expression when conducting cross-

cultural and nadfrcnltnral research on emotional distress. 6S

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Conclusion

The above discussion reviewed a large body o f literature relevant to the proposed

research, from a summary o f some broad, traditional Asian values and the effects differing

rates o f acculturation have on families; to a review o f Higgins’ (1987) self-discrepancy

theory, em pirical support for it, and methodological concerns involved in assessing self-

discrepancies; to an overview o f cultural differences ia depression and anxiety, including

the idea erf somatization, as weB as factors that predict depression among Asian Americans

Several points m erit reiteration from this review.

Fwyf,. « evident that traditional A«inn imIiim\ m \ trt an ptiphiirit rm maiitfamtng

face, maintaining group harmony, respecting hierarchical relationships, and respecting the

feelings and desires o f important others. These values are often in opposition to traditional

Western values that emphasize individualism, egalitarianism, and autonomy. Given that

Asian American children are likely to acculturate to these Western values more quickly

than their parents, it is easy to understand the conflict that may arise within families as a

result afthese accuiturative differences. Much o f the literature on the relationship between

w iilt^inihnn and cmntinn^l ifaftew among aifnlwwtft anrl ympigw arfuht hag finmit that

higher acculturation is associated with higher levels ofdistress, and some authors have

explicitly interpreted this distress in terms o f accuiturative conflict (Aldwin &

Greenberger, 1947; Nguyen & Peterson, 1992).

This accuiturative conflict can also be understood in terms o f sdf-discrcpancy. The

values ofthe more acculturated child do not necessarily match the values his or parents

want the child to possess or think the child ought to possess; or the values may match those

h k o r h er patents do a e t w ant the c h ild to possess, b o th e r w ords, th e accuhura tive

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. differences in values may represent an actual/own-idcal/other, actual/own-ougbt/other, or

actual/awnrundesircdfother self-discrepancy fo r Asian American adolescents and younger

adults.

A second set o f points that merits reitcratioD is that the undcsitcd standpoint on the

self (O gilvie, 1987), which has been hugely neglected in research on self-discrepancy, is

Kkcfy to be more salient fo r Asian Americans, given the traditional emphasis on avoidance

aflossofface rather than gaining face (Cheung, 1997). Thus, it has been argued that an

actual-undesired seif-discrepancy is likely to be predictably more accessible for Asian

Americans, making this seifdiscrepancy a stronger predictor o f emotional distress among

Asian Americans than other groups. Distance from the undesired self has been shown to be

a stioogcr predictor o f depression than actual-ideal self-discrepancies amoog both Asian

and European Americans (Cheung, 1997; Ogilvie, 1987; Ogilvie & Clark, 1992). However,

no study has yet compared these two groups to test the hypothesis that actual-undesired

discrepancies arc a stronger predictor among Asian Americans than European Americans.

In addition, the relationship between actual-undesired self-discrepancies and

anxiety has also not been explored. Although actual-undesired sclfdiscrepancic* have been

found to predict depression, the argument was made above that this sdfdiscrepancy may

actually be a stronger predictor o f anxiety. Iffa ilu re to avoid the undesired self is

conceived as the presence o f ncffltivc outcomes rather than the absence o f positive

outcomes, then, according to Higgins’ (1987) logic, failure to avoid the undesired self

should predict agdatioo-felated emotions such as anxiety mote so than drjrrtiou related

emotions such as depression.

H o t expectation that the actual-undesired discrepancy w ill be more accessible fo r

Asian Americans, along m idi the expectation that d fe discrepancy is associated^with

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. anxiety, com tinedw te the suggestion that Astro Americans may be more likely to

wpwM-wwmmt gwvMty than ytfrfu* nrfwpwmnal SOCWi

anxiety (Okazaki, 1998) leads to the hypothesis tbat anxiety w ill 6e a more common iixm

o f emotional distress tiian depression among Asian Americans.

I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. C HAPTER. 3

P IL O T S TU D Y

The purpose ofthe pilot study was to investigate the relative effectiveness o f two

variations o f a basic method for measuring sdfdisctcpancy. The basic method was

allnur a wwnhinatinii nfth>» aiw< iifingraphip appmjyti^f fn f Mgamg

selfdiscrepancy, o f which there are several in the literature.

One o f these previoosly published methods has participants use adjective rating

lists to indicate the extent to which each o f the listed attributes applies to their various self-

representations (c.g., Tangncy et aL, I998)l However, this nomothetic method constrains

participants* choices o f attributes, and therefore may notallow participants to identify

those attributes most saKent to them, Higgins (1987) has emphasisedthe importance o f

asmg idiographic methods to assess sclf-discrcpancics in order to make sure that attributes

most sabent to individual participants are obtained.

The Selves questionnaire, designed by Higgins and his colleagues (Higgins, Klein

&Strauman, 1985), docs allow participants to generate their own attributes. Each page o f

the Selves questionnaire asks respondents to lis t up to ten attributes that apply to each selfc

representation ffbc example, the actual/own page says, “Please list the attributes o f the type

o f person ya* think you are,” (Higgins, 1987, p. 325, emphasis in original)). For

self-representations mvolvms other sel^gmdesL subjects are asked to generate separate 72

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. lists odattributes fervarious significant others (&£» mother, father. b a t fnendX then asked

to rate bow meaningful each o f these othcrsis. The significant other rated as most

nwaningrfiil i« mint iriwantt n thflf indivi^1^ At»rilyi^ pnyj ^ intfc^

of fjfflt jiff then in (toMmining ili«f>qianw'« Owmpangjuum

m hiw< fry f r f puffn f f»K»pfw nfeihnii«a m i

com puting th e difference between the numb e r a fn a te h c s (sam e o r synonymous words

Katrxi in m il «rifc«fatey smA mtf»na^rh<^ \ynn|f lifted in TV

more mismatches, the higher theseif-discrcpancy score for that pair o f self-representations.

A later version o f the Selves questionnaire (Higgins; Bond. Klein, & Strauman,

1986) asked participants not only to list attributes for each sdfireprcscntatioii. butabo. “to

rate the extent to which the standpoint person (seifor other) either believed they actually

pn^^Mxi nr nnglrf tt\ JOTfffft nr aeutfyif thpff jj(^||y tn each

(Higgins, 19&7, p. 327). Participants rate the attributes on a 4-point scale from slightly to

extremely. Thus, degrees o f match and mismatch could be computed to further identify

selfdiscxepancies.

Although the Selves questionnaire does not conatraia participants* responses, it

also requires a more complex: coding and scoring proccsstodctcirainc which attributes are

truly synonymous. It also allows no conclusions to be drawn about attributes that appear in

one self-state, but for which neither synonyms nor antonyms appear in the others. For

example, ifo n ly the actnal/own self-representation lists, “friendly,” docs the absence o f

das attribute from other self-representations denote a discrepancy or simply a lack o f

salience across selves? In addition, as TangneyetaL (1998) noted, this method may be too

d ifficu lt fo r participants; and may lead to an inability to obtain unique seifreprescatatioos,

without which it is impossible to test Higgins’ theacy. 73

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A third method o f determining sel£discrepaacy appears to address some o f these

problems while rtflf allowing participants to generate their own lists o f attributes. In

individual interviews; Cheung (I9O T) bad paitkqnm s generate lists o f attributes for each

o f the self-representations except the actual/own by asking participants to , for example,

“name the qualities o fthe s e lf.., that he or she ideally aspired to be or to have,” (p. 352).

The interviewer recorded these attributes, then read the attributes back to the participant

one a t a. time; asking the participant to rate each one oa the extent to which it applied to

him or herself at that time using an 11-point scale from Q, “completely does not apply to

me,” to 10, “Completely applies to me.” These ratings could then be averaged to yield an

overall discrepancy score for each pair ofsclfcrapresentations. Th is, in this example, a

rating o f IQ indicates no discrepancy between the actual/own-ideal/own self

representations, while a ta tii^ o f 0 indicates a dramatic discrepancy.

Not obtaining separate lists o f attributes for the actual/own self should not be

problematic because Higgins him self has argued that it is not the actuai/own attributes per

se that are important, but ralhcr how those attributes fit into the larger self-schcma as a

whole (Higgins, Bond, Klein, & Strauman, 1986). hr other words, it is the relation o f the

actual/own attributes to the attributes o f the other self representations (Le., the self-

discrepancy) that is important, not the artuat/own attributes themselves.

Unlike the Selves questionnaire, Cheung’s (1997) method does not require the

attribute; and provides a quantitative selfdiscrepancy score that captures a range o f

magnitudes o f the various self-discrcpandcs, and therefore seems to provide a simpler

method o f assessin g s d & f iscrepancics than th e Selves Questionnaire. H ow ever, Cheung's

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. method, which uses individuri interviews, is time-consuming. In addition, because it

rctpnres participants to idiographically generate a ll attributes^ & is vulnerable to- A c

criticism that it may be too difficult for some participants.

To address these two concents; a modified versioa o f Cheung’s method was

designed for the present study. Attributes and ratings were collected via computer rather

than individual m tffviffyr to simplify data collection In »dK>gp»ph»^ amt

nomothetic methods were combined to allow participants the opportunity to generate

attributes most salient to themselves (as recommended by Higgins, 1987) while abo

pfmmfiig h^tjp tofhosg parfiC«pantS fr»r ffhnm thg tndr nfirfingpijAiqilly g^nwating

attributes is too difficutt (as suggested by TangneyetaL, 1998). A fter idiographically

generating lists o f attributes, participants were provided with a list o f adjectives from

which to choose to complete or modify their lists. Ib is nomothetic list could be provided to

participants interm ittently, after attributes fo r each self-state have been generated, or at the

end, after attributes for a ll seifctates have been generated. The primary purpose o f the pilot

study was to investigate whether there arc differences in the difficulty o f these two

methods or in the number o f attributes generated idiographically.

M ethod

Participants are undergraduates recruited from introductory psychology classes at a

targe Midwestern university Thera an? T* participant* fra the pilnf tfiirfy Ahrm rhlf

(51.5% ) o f the participants arc womcn^ and most (78.8% ) are self-identified European

Americans. The remaining 21.2% o f participants arc self-identified Asian or Asian

American students. The average age ofthc participants is 19.52 years A ll participants

paittal credit frf ttifir partjpiptinn

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A simpfecoaqxiter program was written (using Visual Basic m Excel) that

collected seifdiscreparicy date from participairts. Discrepancies from the actual/own were

assessed for six sel£states: ideal/own, jd al/M ie r, ought/awn, ontftfdher, undesjred/own,

and undcsircd/othcr. First, the most relevant significant other was determined for each

pa rtirepant. Participants were asked to lis t up to 10 significant others w ith whom they

interact rcgnhdy by typing their names or roles (e.g^,Ief£ mother). The computer then

asked the participant, "O f the people listed below, whose opinion o f you is most important

toynn m nrt n ftte tim g?* Thgpgrgnn w fcrtprf i »b »« iig ^ l a«t mrwrf »ignifiran» nthw in

A fter determining the moat significant other; participants were presented w ith on

screen instructions fo r the attribute generating tasks; suce-aaany participants may not

automatically distinguish between the different types o f attributes, especially ideal versus

ought. Verbal instructions were also given. prior to the start o f thedatareolfeetidntoaddiess

this issue (see Procedure). The wording o f the descriptions o fthe three different domains

o f the self are modifications ofthe descriptions provided by Higgins et aL (1985) and

Og&vie (1987). The computer instructions read:

You w ill now be asked to list qnalrtics that you and [significant odier\ndgfrL apply to you. You w ill be asked to Gst three (fififerent types o f qualities: those that you or fsigpificant other] ( I) think you should possess, o r th a t you are ohfigotet/to possess; your moral rules for yourself (2 ) would like fo r you to possess, your uhhnate goals fe r yourself and (3 ) do nor think you should possess, or would not want you to possess; or are undesired; the self you hope never to be. For each fist, think carefully about the type ofrpialitfes you are being asked to lis t.

The participants were then presented w ith different screens fo r each sclfstate and askedto

type in up to fivc attributes. For example, fo r the idcalfothcrsclfstate; participants saw a

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. screen that said, "Please enter 5 qualities that you believe\yourstgaiftcant other) would

ideally like fo r you to be or to possess.” The order o f presentation o fthe six sclf^states

(ideal/own, ideal/other, ought/own, ought/other, undesired/own, undesuedfother) was

counterbalanced across participants. Approximately one-faalf o f participants were

presented w ith the three “other** selfcstatcs first, while die remaining participants were

presented w ith the three “own” self-states. Order o f presentation o f the ideal, ought, and

undesired domains o ftfae self within the own and at her self-guides was counterbalanced

A fter generating the qualities for each s e lf state, participants were shown each o f

their sot seifgenerated lists along with a list o f 100 attributes fiom which they could

choose in order to complete ( if less than 5 attributes were listed) or modify their lists. The

adjectives in this list were selected from Anderson's (1968) hst o f555 trait words. In order

to provide a list o f words that represented tfae fu ll range o f likeability ratings, Anderson’s

original Est was divided into quartilcs, according to mean likcability rating, and 25 words

were randomly selected from each quartilc. These 100 words-were then presented, in

alphabetical nnfert to participant* Thg game list mw pnwnferfforall participant* for at!

six self-states. This allowed for idiosyncratic attributes to be generated as w ell as provided

help to those for whom the task ofgenerating^O trait words was more difficult.

A fter the six lists ofattrihutes were completed, each attribute was presented to the

participant one at atim e in random order, and the participant was asked to, “Please indicate

boar much yon think each o f the qualities below actucdfy describes o r app&es to you a t this

rime. Click the appropriate number on tfae rating scale to the right.” A five-pori* raring

scale was used (1 —completely applies to me; 2 -applies to me very much, 3 -applies to

me somewhat, 4 -applies to me a little , 5 —doesn't apply to me at a ll). It seemed

impostam to have the participantsgenerate attribute* first and then rate tfacattributes. I f 77

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. participants rated tbe attributes as each was generated, sdf-dtscrepancies would became

salient as tbe attributes were generated, which could conceivably alter tfae types a f

attributes subsequently generated.

Seifdtscrepancy scores were computed by averaging tfae rating* o f tfae liv e

attributes generated fo r each ofthc six sclfstates. The ratings represent the extent to which

the actual/own seif*tate differs from tbe target seifstate. For tbe ought and ideal self-

fc%^**,*atitigTiiTF,Tfir*itg rrirty r# w-,?p?n

score ofS fo r tbe kfcal/own s e lfstate indicates tfae person feels a complete discrepancy

between those be or sbe aspires to possess and tfae attributes tbe individual feels be or site

actually does possess, w hile a score o f 1 indicates perfect congruence (L e., no

discrepancy). For tfae undesired attributes, an actuafundesired congruence is the more

detrimental condition, because a rating o f 1 indicates that tbe person actually does possess

tfae undesired attribute: For consistency o f interpretation, ratings for tbe undcsircd/own and

undcsired/othcr attributes were reverse scored so that higher ratings also indicate tfae more

detrimental relationship. Thus, six sdfdiscrcpancy scores were computed that tangp from

1 to 5 , w ith higher scores indicating a stronger s elf discrepancy.

Seifdiscrepancy data were collected from participants in small groups.

Participants were given the following verbal instructions:

The purpose ofthis research is to gather information about different ways people describe themselves and think others describe them. You w ill be asfced to fast the names o fseveral people w ith whom you interact regularly andfor whose opinion o f yon is important. F at example* I migfat Kst, "Mona, Dad, Jef£ David, Bethany, and Andrea.” Then you w ill be asked to pick the one person whose opurion is most important to you. You w fll then be asked to Bst the words that describe three d ifferent “selves”: tbe type ofpenon you think you jdaB x want to be; tfamfc you fltt& i tobeL and thinkvon neverwant tube. You wiB also be asked to fotfoe words

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that describe the type o f person vou think the other person ideally wants vou tobe. thinks vou ought to beL and thinks vou never should be. Thctvpcof person vou ideally want to be refers to vour beliefs mnrjming rfig iittnliiitpf you wflM jjgaBv to y»«r nltirMte goals f i r yo u rself. The type ofpcrson vou think vou ought to be refers to vour beliefs concerning tfae attributes you believe you should possess; or that you are obligated to possess: vour moral rules for voutself The type ofpcrson vou never want to be refers to vour beliefs concerning the attributes that are undesherL that von do not want ever to possess: the self vou hope never to be. There ate no wrong answers or wrong words-you may use any words you want to describe these different types o f self. Sometimes it is hard to te ll the difference between these different types o f self. Here are some exam ples. As an example o f how tfae ideal and ought are different, I may ideally w ant o r hope to be ric h someday, b u t I do no t th in k I have a duty o r am m o rally obligated to be ric h . S o, ric h w ould be a w ord th a t describes tfae type ofpcrson I ideally want to bci but it is not a word that describes the type o f person I think I ought to be. Does everyone understand bow these three selves-tfae type o f person vou ideally want to be^ the type o f person vou think vou ought to be. and the type ofpetson vou never want to b e-a re different? Are there anv questions? [ If experimenter receives a question about ifundesired is Just the opposite o f ideal* say: “For example, I never want to be considered a rude person. Rude is an undesirable tra itform e. But I don't aspire to be a polite person. It's not a goal I have setfor myself So. rvde would be a word that describes the type o f person I never want to be. but its opposite, polite, it not a ward that describes the type o fperson I ideally want to be. ”1 The computer w ill ask you to click on buttons and to type in some words. A fter vou tvoc in a word, vou must hit enter to continue. If you try clicking on a button and nothing happens, press enter, and then try clicking the button again, I f you have any questions as you go, please raise your band, and I w ill come by to answer diem. Please click the button on your screen that says “Begin” to start.

Descriptions ofthc different domains o f the selfarc slight mod ifications o fthe

original descriptions presented by Higgins etaL (1985, p. 58) and Ogilvie (1987, p. 381).

Aftw tlMring uwtal iwtniftirtw yKHwpffpmfy

asscssmcm task, fcBowcd by a computerized demographic questionnaire before being

partially debriefed. Seventeen aftheparticipantswere presented with tfae list oflQO

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. attributes only after generating idiographiic lists f ir a ll six seif-statcs (“Emf* group), while

the remaining sixteen were presented with the list o f 100 attributes after generating each o f

tbe she ufiographic fats CTutermittent” group).

Results

The number afwords generated by participants in tfae End and Interm ittent groups

before tbe adjective fa t was presented was compared to see ifthe tw o methods lead to

diffcrcnccsin the number o f idiographically generated words. Among the B id group,

100% oftfae participants idiographically generated aB 30 attributes (five per self-state).

Among the Intermittent group> only 29.4% o f participants idiographically generated a ll 30

aUiihilM fra ifcit ynup Hi» auway mimhw nfiHjng^pjifraHy

22.41, which is significantly lower than the average o f 30 for the End group ({= 3 .7 4 , d f=

31, p < .001). Further, nearly one-fourth (233% ) o f the participants in the Intermittent

group idiographicaily generated zero words for one or more o f the six self-states, amp iy

skipping to tfae aomotbetic fa t, compared to none oftbe participants from the End group.

In other words, participants who were not allowed to consult the list o f 100 attributes until

after they had attempted to generate their own fats for a ll 6 self-states generated

significantly more idiographic words than participants who were allowed to consult the list

o f attributes as they went along.

The End group was not more likely than the Intermittent group to change their

idkrgraphically generated words. The End group changed an average o f 934% o f their

idiographically generated words, while tbe Intermittent gyoup changed an average o f

13.02% qfthcir words (t= -.57. d f— 31. ns>. One participant in the Interm ittent group

changed 100% o f his idiographically generated words; excluding this outlier, tfae

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. remaining participants in tbe Interm ittent group only changed an average 7.58% o f their

jdtographically generated words, which docs not differ fiom the 938% fee the Bad group (t

= J8,df= 30,as).

To determine ifth e tasks aw e any moie or less difficult fo r tfae End versus

fattermittCBt group, a ll participants were asked four questions about the difficulty o f the

treks at tfae end o f tfaeirpartidpation. Reponses to a ll four questions were on a 4-pomt

Lflccrt-type scale (1 = very difficult, 2 = somewfaat difficult, 3 = slightly difficuft, 4 = not at

a ll (fiffk n lt). Question I was, “How difficult for yon was tfae task o f generating tfae

different lists o f qualities?” Both groups found the task only somewhat to slightly difficult,

w ith no difference between groups (average responses were 2.3? and 2J 9 for the End and

Intermittent groups, respectively, £=-1.22, d f= 31, ig ). Question 2 was, “How difficult for

you was it to te ll tfae difference between tbe ‘ideal’ and ‘ought* selves?” Again tfaere was

no difference in the difficulty rating between groups, and both groups rated this difference

as only somewhat to slightly difficult (2.69 and 2.94 for the End and Intermittent groups,

respectively, | = -.8 6 , d f = 31, jg ). Question 3 was, “How difficult for you was it to te ll tfae

difference between tbe ‘ideal’ and ‘undesired* selves?” Participants in both groups found

this distinction just slightly difficult (3.56 and 3.76, on average; fo r tfae End and

Interm ittent groups, respectively, £=-.897, d f = 31, as). Finally, question 4 was, “How

d ifficu lt for you was it to te ll the difference between tfae‘ought* and‘undesired* selves?”

Again, participants in both groups found this distinction just slightly difficult (331 and

3-59. on average. for the End and Intermittent groups, respectively, t = -.997. d f = 31. ns).

Smnm m yMut

N ot surprisingly, participants m tfae End groups who were given an opportunity to

w n iilt H i* I m » nf fwnly jflw attnn^iiig ^ j^jngupK ifiHy

t t

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. attributes fo r aD six self-states, generated significantly more attributes than participants I d

the Intennitteat groups whowere presented with the nomothetic list after eacha tthem e

idfafatet Hw f

that participants w ill generate attributes that are most relevant to themselves, rather than

being constrained by the adjectives listed in die nomothetic list. In addition, participants in

tfae End group are no more likely to change their idiographically generated words than

participants in tfae Intermittent group The fact that participants in both groups do change a

small percentage aftfacir words does suggest that providing the nomothetic lis t is helpful to

some participants. Finally, participants in the End gropp did not find the task any more

difficult than participants in the Interm ittent group. Together, these data suggest that

providing a nomothetic fa t o f adjectives to participants after they have attempted to

jdtographically generate attributes for a ll o f the self-states maximizes the number o f

Mfiographic traits generated without creating a task that is too difficult fo r participants.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHA PTER . 4

PRIMARY STUDY METHOD

Participants- -A. _ . — ■ A —

There were 36& participants, including the 33 pilot study participants. O f these 36S

participants; 7 were excluded because they indicated they were neither Eoropean American

nor Asian/Asian American (3 reported they were biradal, I reported A c was Native

American; and 3 indicated another racial/ethnic identification). Oftfac remaining 361

participants, 20 failed to return to complete tbe second part o ftbe study, leaving 341

Ofthese 341 participants, there were 142 sei^identifiedAsun/Asian American

students (50.7% female) and 193 non-Hispanic European American students (61.7%

fem ale). Average ages oftbe two groups were 19.84 and 1930years; respectively. The

m ajority o f both groups (663% and 74.6%, respectively) were first-year students. O f tfae

A sian/ Asian American participants, 43.2% reported they were US citizens, 163% were

US permanent residents; 35.8% were international students, and 4.1% were o f other

citizenship statuses. Qftheuco-US citizens, 50.5% reported they plan to stay in the US

after graduation from college. O fthe European American participants, 97.4%reportedthey

were US citizens. A ll participants were recruited from tfae General Psychology subject pool

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. during the Fail (n ^ 191, 35.6% Asian/ Asian American), W ater (n = 130; 46.9% Asian/

Asian American) and Spring (n = 20; 94.4% Asan/Asian American) quartets o f asmgfe

academic year.

The 20 participants who laded to ictnm to complete the second part o f die study

were compared to the 341 participants who d id complete the study. Chi-square tests

revealed ao differences between these two groups in (tender

(X 2= .2 9 . d f = 1. nsl or US citizenship status IX 2=.89. d f = 3. n sl and t-tests revealed no

differences in average age ft = 1.1.8, d f = 362. ns). Thus, it does not appear that the

patticipants who chose not to complete the study differed from those participants who did

complete the study.

M easure*

SeHwliserepanev The same sel£discrepancy measure used in the pilot study was

used in the primary study. A ll participants were given the opportunity to consult the

nomothetic lis t o f adjectives only after attempting to generate attributes for a ll six self-

states*

Depression. Depression was measured using the Center fo r Fpirfeminlogical

Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; RadIof£, 1977). The CES-D is a 20-item self report

mcasore designed to assess current level o f depressive symptoms; w ith an emphasis on

affective symptoms. The CES-D is intended to assess symptoms o f depression in a normal

pnpulaiinn nftt tn identify eare* o fHiniral nr pathological rfoprc«*ion ahfifigh the item*

were chosen to “isolate the major components o f depressive symptomatology identified by

the dm ieal literature and factor analytic studies,” (Kuoi 1984,p. 451).

Respondents rate indicate how often they have experienced each to n within the

past week using a 4-pomt scale: 0 (rarely or none o fthe tim e (less than 1 dqfR 1 (Some or 84

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. a little o f the tune (1-2 days)); 2 (Occasionally or a Moderate amoont o ftiine (3-4 days));

and 3 (Most or A ll o f the time (5-7 days)). Sixteen ofthe items assess cognitive, affective,

somatic and behavioral symptoms o f depression, and the remaining four items assess

positive affect. The responses to the four positive items are rcvcrsc-scorcd and then the

responses to aB 20 items are summed to yield a total score. The total score may range from

0 -6 0 , with higher scores indicating greater depressive symptomatology.

The CES-D has been used in a large number o f studies in the last 25 years, and

accumulated reliab ility and validity data for the CES-D are good. For example. Radloff

(1977) reported reliability alphas o f .80 or higher for a number o f subgroups, including age

(under 25,25-64, and over 64), ggndcr, race (African American and European American)

educational level (less than high school^ high school greater than high school), and

perceptions o f the need for help. Validity o f the scale is supported by evidence that CES-D

scores discriminate between clinically depressed and non-depressed groups, decline

significantly among patient groups after treatment for depression, and are significantly

correlated w ith seventy o f negative life events and other self-report depression scales

(Radlafi; 1977).

Original factor analysis o fthe CES-D indicated four factors: depressed affect

(blues, depressed, fearful, lonely, cry, sad), positive affect (good, hopeful, happy, cnjoyX

somatic and retarded activity (bothered, blues, appetite; mind on, depressed, effort, sleep,

talk, and get going), and interpersonal (unfriendly, dislike; R adki£ 1977, p. 397). fa the

jfimg nrigmaf A mwm pttiwpantt ftr

48% o f the variance. Radtoff alsoreported that this factor structure obtained regardless o f

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. age (under 2 5 ,2S-64, and over 64), gender, race (African and European American)

educational level (less tfaanhigh school, high school, greater than high school), and

perceptions o f the need for help.

Factor analyses w ith Asian Americans have tended to find that the somatic and

depressed affect items load on one factor rather than on separate factors (Kuo, 1984; Yang

et aL, submitted). Kuo (1984) identified fear factors among ha Asian American sample:

«»< tnmarir {tvrffu»r»»n Kln<»c mirni nn tfeip

interpersonal (talk less, lonely, unfriendly, dislike), positive (good, hopeful, happy, enjoy),

and pessimistic (failure, fearful). These four factors accounted for 53% of the variance in

CES-D scores, which is comparable to the variance accounted for reported by R adloff

(1 9 7 7 ).

Anxiety. Social anxiety was measured using the Social Avoidance and Distress

Scale (SAD) and the Fear ofNegativc Evaluation Scale (FNE), both originally developed

by Watson and Friend (1969). The SAD and FNE scales were designed to be used together

to measure different aspects o f social anxiety. The SAD is a 28-item measure that assesses

social anxiety (14 items) and avoidance (14 items). There are 14 positively and negatively

scored items. An example o f an item from the SAD is, 1am usually nervous w ith people

unless I know them weQ.” The original version used a true-false response format.

However, because the response distribution was skewed using this form at, many

researchers have instead used a 5-point Likert-type response format (Leary, 1991)

Reliability coefficients o f nearly .90 have been repotted using this 5-point response format

(Leary, 1991X The 5-point version was usedmtfasstudy. SAD scores may range fio a 28

to 140, with higher scores indicating greater levels o f social anxiety.

8 6

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Fear ofNegative Evaluation scale (FNE) was designed to measure,

"apprehension abort others* evaluations, distress over their negative cvahations, avoidance

o f evaluative situations, and the expectation that others would evaluate oneself negatively,*

(Watson & Friend, 1969, p. 449). The original FNE (Watson & Friend, 1969) contained 30

trae-falscftcms. The revised version, used in this study, consists o f 12 ofthe original kerns

and nses a S-pomtLikest-type response format (Leary, 1983). An example o fooe ofthe

items is, Taro afraid that others wiH not approve ofm c.1* Scores on the b rief version range

from 12 to 60; w ith higher scores indicating a greater fear o f negative evaluation. Scores on

the b rief version have been found to correlate .96 with scores on the original version

(Leary, 1983). Leary (1983) also reported good reliability for the brief version o fthe FNE

(alp h a = .9 0 ).

fcwhnhm/wrimmi Pesmmkm anrf optimism tmveliMii fnm«tlfthi>M|iaBrti»

dimensions, rather than opposite ends o fa single dimension (Chang, EyZnriDa,&Maydea-

Oiivares, 1994). Thus, the Extended Life Orientation Test (ELOT; Chang, Maydeu-

Olivares, & D’Zurilla, 1997), which provides separate pessimism and optimism scores was

used m this study. The ELOT consisrttf20 items, 6 ofwhichcomprire the Optimism

scale ( cl &, "hi uncertain times, I usually expect the best,"), 9 o f which comprise the

Pessimism scale (e.g^ " I hardly ever expect things to go my way,").and 5 o f which are

fiBcr items. Respondents rate each item on a 5-point Likcrt-typc scale from 1 (stro n g

disagree) to 5 (strongly disagree). Higher scares on each scale indicate greater optim ism or

pessimism.

The items on the ELOT were selected based on a factor analysis ofthe original

U feQ riertatioa Test (LOT; Scbeier&Carver, 1985) and the Optimism and Frrrisrinw

Scafc(Dember, M artin, Hummer, Howe, & Melton, 1989), and were found tobcthe items 87

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that, <1>estffe tfae definition ofoptiinism and pessimism as generalized positive and

negative outcome expectancies,1* (Chang, 1996^ p. 1 IS ). R eliability coefficients for tfae

Optmusm and Pessamum scales were found to be .88 and .93* respectively, fiir a sample

o f Asian American college students, and .86 and .90 for a sample o fEuropean American

students (Chang. 1996).

Sctf-construal. Independent and interdependent self-constnials were measured

using the Self-Coostrual Scale (Singelis, 1994). Consistent with tfae idea that

independence and interdependence are two separate dimensions, ratber than opposite ends

o f a single continuum, the SCS provides separate scores for tfae strength o f an indtviduaTs

tntewfcpgmfent- orut n A p w A n ^

Respondents indicate their agreement with each o f the 30 statements (IS each for

tfae Independence and Interdependence scale) on a 7-point Likcrt-type scale, tanging from

1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Previous factor analysis revealed that aD tfae

tons loaded positively on their respective subscalc, rather than loading negatively on the

other (Smgelis. 1994). Thus, there arc no reverse-scored to n s on the SCS. An example o f

an independent to n is, *Td rather say ‘No’ directly, than rislr being misunderstood.” An

example o f an interdependent item is, “I should take into consideration my parents' advice

when making education/career pbns.” Responses on each suhscale are averaged to give

scparatemdependen tandinterdependent scoces thatmay range fio o al to 7, with higher

■a— ft f^ m n p r

Singelis (1994} reported good face validity for the scale. Farther; tfae items cover

behaviors, thoughts, and feelings, which contributes to tfae content validity a f the scale.

Construct validitywas evidenced in drat srgpificam differences were found between

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ramIfrrfinii* A«tm Amwu^iw actiihih'ng higher

fniwtmafc rfiyit Fiimppiin Am waira amlB m yaai Anwnwuw hufrating higW

independent setfconstruals than Asian Americans*

During development o ftfae SCS, participants were presented with several

scenarios describing conversations between two people and asked to mdicale how muck

they fe lt the situation bad influenced wbat ooc o f them bad said. Marfcus and Kitayama

(1991) noted that attributions to tfae situation are more common among those with

infwrf>|irau{rai» e^KcniwtnHilc

attributions to the situation better than ethnic group, demonstrating tbe predictive validity

ofthe SCS (Singelis, 1994).

Acculturation. The Suinn-Lcw Asian Seif-Mentitv Acculturation Scale fSL-ASIA:

Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew & V ig il, 1987) was designed specifically to measure

acculturation among Asian Americans. However, The SL-AS1A provides only a

imiHintf in irma 1 mwnim mmt of It dOCS DOt adequately meaSUte the

acculturation o f bicultural individuals who may value both Western and Asian cultures.

The Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-Q), developed by

Cuellar, Arnold, and M aldonado (1995), has been praised for providing separate scalesto

measure orientation to Mexican and Anglo culture (Dana, 1988). Lee et aL (2000) reported

that tfae original ARSM A -II hems can easfly be modified to apply to other racudfethnic

groups. Therefore, a modified version o f ARSMA-R was used to measure acculturation.

The modified ARSMA-Q consists o f 30 items that measure an individuals’

orientation to Asian (17 tons) and dominant(L cl , white) American (13 items) culture. The

to n s coocara language; identity, behaviors, and friendship. Respondents rate each item, on

a 5-pout Likest-type scale from 1 (not at a ll) to S (extremely often). Separate scares for 89

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. orientation to Asian and Western cultures are provided by averaging tfae respondent’s

ratings to tfae 17 Asian culture aad 13 Western eaftuse items. Scores may range fiom 17 to

85 firtiie Asian orientation and from 13 to 65 for the Western orientation, with higher

a f^wiigpr riittnrgt nriw*rtim /t mWhmftial % ffiiHBpfc;

would have high scores on both mbscales A unidimensionaJ accultaratioa score can also

bcdctcnniacdby reverse scoring the Asian orientation items and computing a totai score.

Highw f

culture. Lee et aL (2000) used such a modified version o f die ARSM A-II with a sample o f

Asian American college students and obtained good internal reliabilities for the Asian

orientation fe = .87), Western orientation fe = .74), and uoidimensional fe = .t7 ) scores.

V alidity and reliability data for tbe original ARSMA-H are reported in Cuellar et aL

(1 9 9 5 ).

Perceived Parental Acculturation. In order to test the hypothesis that scifc-

4*fnrpanry ♦he femify (ywflir*-an«< amfig

amilhiratinit ehilifcffl ^«vf Irmr aiviiltiinHnn parwitf blit DOT atDOOg

fam ilies in which both children and patents are low in acculturation, perceptions o f

parental acculturation were assessed using two items. These items were developed by Lee

et aL (2000) to assess perceptions o f parental acculturation. The two items are, “Rate yoor

perception ofhow traditional (or Asian) your parents are in their attitudes and behaviors,”

and “rate yon perception o f how mainstream (or Western) your parents are ia then attitndcs

and behaviors,” (p. 8 ). Ratings arc given on a S-point likeit-typ c scale from Knot at a ll) to

5 (extremely). The authors reverse-scored the Asian orientation to n and combined it with

the Westemrorieniation item to yield a single score, with higher scores indicating higher

levels o fperceived parental accufturatioo. Lee et aL noted that this type o f single-item

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. approachhasbeensuccessfuliy used in previous research. They found scores on these

jtemctfthgcpiifipam^r jjujjffiy ()fifyjifcuratimi

j)t parental fru-nm^ anti wtiratim

Accufrurativc conflict. Several authors have suggested that an "accnhurarion gap"

contributes to eonfliet within immigrant families (le e , Choc, Kim , &Ngo, 2000;

SzapocznikfcKuitincs, 1993). That is, the faster rate o f acculturation among children, as

compared to their parents, leads to conflict between parents and children about vahies,

altitudes, and behaviors. It is suggested in this study that this acculturation gap represents a

seifdtscrepancy fa r tfae children, in that their more acculturafed values arediscrepant from

the vahies faefe parents want, expect, or do not want for tftek children to hold. Thus, for the

purposes o f this study, accuiturative stress among the Asian American participants w ill be

measured in terms o f fam ily acculturation conflicts.

The Family Conflicts Scale (FCS) was developed by Lee et aL (2000) to assess the

likelihood and seriousness o f various fam ily conflicts that arc typical o f an acculturation

gap. The FCS consists o f 10 items. These items were developed based on the existing

literature and focus groups conducted by the authors about typical acculturation conflicts in

Asian American fam ilies. An example o f one ofthe FCS items is, "You have done wed in

school, but your parents* academic expectations always exceed your performance.1'

Respondents rate the likelihood o f occurrence o f each situation o q a 5-point Likett-typc

scale from I (almost never) to 5 (almost always). Respondents also rate tfae seriousness o f

each situation in their fam ily on a sim ilar 5-point scale from 1 (not at a ll) to S (extremely).

Responses are summed to provide separa te F.ikdihor)rt and Ser iousness subscale scores,

each afw hich may range from 10 to 50, with higher scores representing mote likely or

serious conflicts, respectively.

9 1

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In constructing tbe FCS, Lee etaL (2000) conducted two studies w ith samples o f

Asian American college students to investigate the psychometric properties o f the scale.

They reported good internal refiahiiifies o f .89 and .81 for the FCS-I ikdihood scale and

.91 and .84 fo r tfae FCS-Seriousuess scale. Tcst-rctest reliabilities were also high ( e = - 80

and .85 fo r die FC S-I ikelihood and Seriousness scales, respectively). Both subscales were

found to be significantly correlated with another measure o f acculturatjve stress,

demonstrating construct validity ofthe FCS. Both subscales were also found to be

negatively correlated with overall satisfaction with fam ily life , time shared together,

mutual understanding, and freedom in the fam ily, supporting the concurrent validity o f foe

scale.

The FCS-Likelihood scale was also found largely to support tfae acculturation gap

hypothesis: high-accu Ituration children who perceived their parents to be low in

acculturation repotted greater likelihood o f fam ily conflict than higb-acculturatioc children

w ith perceived high-accu fturaiioo parents. However, the greatest likelihood o f fam ily

conflict (sim ilar to tbe high-accuituration children with tow-accultu ration parents) was

reported by low acculturated children with low acculturated parents. Given that fost-

gcncratioa children reported significantly greater likelihood o ffam ily conflict than US-

bom children, the authors suggested that these low-accufturated fam ilies experience more

accuiturativc stress in general.

Other demographic factors, such as fam ily income and education level were also

found to be related to FCS-Likelihood scores, w ith children from poorer, Iess educated

fam ilies reporting greater occurrence o f conflict. Despite differences in reported fikefihood

o f fam ily conflict based oq acculturation, no differences in tbe seriousness o f these

conflicts was found. However, tfae FCS-Seriousness scores were found to be related to 92

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. children's adoption o f Western values and identification w ith non-Asians. The stronger tfae

duhfs Western orieatatioa, the more serious the fiunily accnhmafion conflicts were

reported to be.

BEBfiSSteE

Date were collected fiom participants in smaO groups o f no more than 30 across

the fa ll, w inter, and spring quarters. Since collecting s e lf discrepancy date may make

discrepancies more salient, which may artificially magnify participants* reports o f

depression and anxiety, self-discrepancy data were collected about 2 weeks prior to

collection o f other date. This is consistent with most previous scif-discrepancy research,

which has collected self-discrepancy data anywhere from one week (e.g^ Higgins, Klein,

&Strauman, 1985) to eight months (Cheung, 1997) prior to collection o f other data.

Selfdiscrepancy and demographic date were collected from Asian/Asian

American and European American participants in small groups at Tim e 1, using the

computer program described in the pilot study. Participants were given the same verbal

instructions as in tfae pilot study. A ll participants completed these measures in under 30

minutes. Participants were partially debriefed and asked to sign up for a tune to return to

complete the study. A t Time 2 (at least 2 weeks later), a ll participants completed the SCS,

CES-D, FNE, SAD, and ELOT (in that order), along with some other measures not

relevant lo r this research. Asian/Asian American participants also completed the FCS

«ait ABSMAJT participant* orawpL«r«4 tW frattary n f

measures u> about 3 0 min utes; none took m ote than6 0 minutes. Following completion o f

the questionnaires, participants were fu lly debriefed.

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTERS

RESULTS

Between Groups Differences

Betweeo-Croups Differences In Emotional Distress

Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for tfae depression (Center for

Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale; CES-D) and social anxiety measures (Fear o f

Negative Evaluation scale (FN E) and the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD)) are

presented by ethnicity and gender in Table I. Tbe scale reliabilities for both tfae Asian /

Asian American and European American participants on a ll three measures are high,

ranging from .87 to .94. Table 1 also presents tfae means and standard deviations for die

gender and ethnicity groups on a composite social anxiety score, created by combining

each participant’s FNE and SAD scores.

JEaQKOMBBDenression

W hile some previous research has found that Asian Americans endorse mote

symptoms o f depression than European Americans Qfcazakj 1991), other research

has found no differences in depression between groups (e.g^ Yen, Robins, & Lin,. 2000).

Therefore; no predictions regarding differences in depression were made, A 2 (ethnicity) X

2 (gender) ANOVA with CES-D scores as the dependent variable revealed no significant i differences in depression between Asian/Asian Americans (M = 17.15) and European 94

Ii j | i !

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Americans (M = I5 3 1 :F (1 .3361=2.42. ns.‘y?=.007L nor between men

women (M = 1639: F (1.336)= 2 3 . 08./= .0 0 1 1 The interaction between ethnicity and

gender was also not significant (£ (1,336) = .05,. n& / < .001). Asa further test for

bctweea-groups differences in depression, an ANQVA was conducted comparing the

European Americans to tfae three Asian/Asian American dlizeaship groups (US citizens,

IK pmmwrt rwiiiwitt ynf fntwnatinnal wrhirfing qry prtiripMdt afp

Ksteda citizenship status other than one o f these three). However, there are no wgnifieant

differences in depression between these groups (£ (3,326) = .961, jg , / = .009).

In the current sample; tbe average CES-D scores for tbe AsianI A sian Am ericans

(17.15) and European Americans (1531) are higher than those reported originally by

Radk>ff( 1977), who reported means o f between 7.9 and 9.2 for samples from the general

population. However, they are consistent w ith scores reported in mote recent studies. For

example, Yen et aL (2000) reported scores o f 16.02 for European American college

students and 17.11 for Chinese American college students In the present sample, the

average hem response is a . 81, which represents only experiencing depressive symptoms

slightly less often than “Some or a little ofthe tim e (1-2 days a week).”

Social Anxiety

Based on previous research (e g , Okazaki, 1997), the Asian/Asian Americans

were expected to have significantly higher scores than the Bnopean Americans on both

measures o f social anxiety. No predictions regarding gender differences m social anxiety

were made. A 2 (ethnicity) X 2 (gender) MANOVA, with SAD and FNE scores as the

dependent variables, was comfacted to test these predictions. Results revealed that the

Asian /A sian Americans (M = 73.91) have significantly higher SAP scows than the

European Americans (M =64.05, £ (1,336)=24.97, g < .001, /= .0 7 ), butthat the two

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. groups do not have significantly different FNE scores (M =35.89and34.98, for the Asian

/ Asian Americans and European Americans, respectively; £ (1 ,336)=.88, ffi, Y2=.003).

There are no significant gender differences on the SAD (M = 67.20and69-99,-for women

andmcn, respectively; E (1,336)=.82, g& 7* = 002) or tfae FNE (M = 35.77 and 34.88,

for women and men, respectively; F (1,336)=.88, Y*= -003). Finally, there arc no

significant interactions between ethnicity and gender on cither the SAD (E (1 ,336)=.03,

8 5 , Y* < .0 0 1 ) o r the F N E (£ (1 ,3 3 6 ) = 3 7 , as, y 2 =.001). As a further test for between-

groups differences in social anxiety, a MANOVA was conducted comparing the European

Americans to the three Asian / Asian American citizenship groups (IS citizens, US

permanent residents, and international students) on the SAD and FNE. There are no

significant differences in fear o f negative evaluation between these groups (£ (3 ,3 3 1) =

1.49. iff- y2=.013). However there are significant differences in social avoidance (F (3T

331)=9.80, g < .001, y2 3 .082). Post-hoc tests reveal that tfae European Americans have

lower SAD scores than a il three Asian / Asian American groups; which do not differ from

each other.

(Even tfae significant difference between Asian/Asian Americans and European

Americans in social avoidance (SAD scores), it is not surprising that a 2 (ethnicity) X 2

(gender) ANOVA shows the two groups also differ significantly on the combined social

anxiety score (E (1 ,336)= 19.43, p < .001, 7*= .0 6 ), with Asian/Asian Americans (M =

109.80) demonstrating significantly more social anxiety than tfae Bnopean Americans (h i

=99.03). The ANOVA revealed no gpndcr differences in the combined anxiety score (E (1 ,

336)< .11, Bfc 7^ < .001) nor a significant ethnicity by gender interaction (E f t , 336)= -15,

T2 < 0 0 1 ).

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. lkUUUlllI|flBflBtJB9U8CnaKSeifdiscreDancv and distress

Deprcssionandsocialanxiety were expected to be predicted by different types o f

self-discrepancy. Six types ofself-discrepancy from the actual-own s e lf were measured:

ideal-own, ideal-other, ought-own, ought-other, undesiredrown, and undesuedotfaer. (For

simplicity, “Actual-own” w ill be dropped from alt future references to seifitfiscrepancy.)

Scores were obtained by averaging the ratings ofthe five attributesgenerated by

partictpanls fo r each type o f self-discrepancy. Ideal, Ought, and Undcsired composite

scores were alro obtained by col lapsing across “own” and “other” selfdiscrepancics (c ig ,

collapsing ideal-own and ideal-other into a single Ideal sclfdiscrcpancy score). Means,

standard deviations,, and reliabilities for a il selfdiscrepancies aie presented by ethnicity

and gender in Table 2. Reliabilities o f tfae six specific and three composite self-discrepancy

measures are a ll adequate to good, with the exception o f tbe Undcsircd-Own self-

discrepancy fix tfae European American participants (a = .47).

To explore differences in seif-discrepancy between groups, a 2 (ethnicity) X 2

(gender) M ANOVA. with tfae six specific se lf discrepancy types as dependent variables,

was conducted. As seen in the MANOVA results m Table 3 and tfae cell means in Table 2,

tfae A sian/A sian Americans indicate significantly higher self-discrepancies than tfae

European Americans on five ofthe six types o f selfdiscrepancy. Tbe only type o f seif-

discrepancy on which Asian/Asian American and Bnopean Americans do not differ is the

Ideal-Own (M = 2.86 and 2.70 for tfae Asian/ Asian Americans and Bnopean Americans,

respectively), Tbe lack o f difference appears to be due to European Americans having

higher scores on this type o f selfducrepancy, rattier than Asian/Asian Americans hawing

lower scores.

set

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. There arc no significant differences in selfdiscrcpancy scores between men and

women except fo r the undesired-own sclf-discrcpancy. On this type o f self-discrepancy,

men have higher scores (M = L79) tfaaa women (h i = 1.63; £ ( I, 335>=3.99, g < .05).

There arc no significant ethnicity by gender interactions oa five o f the six types o f sctf-

discrcpancy; the only s^ rficaitt interaction is oa the ideal-other self-disqepancy(E(l,

33 5)= 6 .3 ^ g < .05). Post-hoc tests revealed that the European American men have the

lowest Meal-Other sclfdisctepancy(M =2JOX which is significantly lower than foe

average Id ea l-O th er s e lf

discrepancy score ofthe Asian/ AsianAmcrican men (M = 2.78, g < .05). The Asian /

Asian American and European American women have sim ilar scores (M =2.66 and 2.63,

respectively).

gT ti«rtinn n f Higgins’ setf-discrcpancv finding

The correlations between selfdiscrepancy, depression, and social anxiety are

presented m Table 4. Higgins* original work (n g , Higgins; 1987; Higgins et a l., 1985) on

the relationship between self-discrepancy and emotional distress included only two types

ofsdf-discrcpancy, the ideal and the ooght. Ideal self-discrepancies were found to be

related to dejection-related emotions, such as depression, while ought sdfdiscrepm cic*

were related to agitation-related emotions, such as anxiety. Higgins reported two types o f

evidence for the discriminant validity o f these tw o types o f selfdiscrepancy that arc

relevant to tfae enrrent study: simple and parted correlations. Using simple correlations;

Higgins found that ideal seffc&screpancies were correlated w ith depression and either

unconeiated or negatively correlated w ith anxiety, while the opposite was true for ought

selfdiscrepancics; ought seifdtscrepandes were correlated w ith anxiety and either

nnconclated or negatively correlated w ith depression (c.g^ Higgins ctaL, I985;Higgpnset

9 8

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. aL, 1986). Using partial correlations, Higgins found that ideal sclf-discrepancics accounted

fer m'gnifipiiitf uariaiv«» (fcp^ jnnt afty cw^n)|tiffg fof rmgtlt trt

that* anghr wKHin’ffpanriyt (fi

controlling fo r ideal sel£discrepancies. Tbe opposite pattern was found for anxiety, fat tfae

current sample, tfacsc predictions are largely supported among the European Americans,

especially for the ought self-discrepancy, but not supported among the Asian/Asian

Am ericans.

Ought selEdiscrepancies. As seen in Table 4 , tbe simple correlations fo r tfae

European Americans do replicate Higgins (Higgins etaL, 1985; Higgins et aL, 1986):

Ought self-discrepancy is significantly correlated with all three anxiety measures (r = 2 5 ,

2 6 , and .32 for tfae FNE, SAD, and composite anxiety measures, respectively, a ll gs <

.001), but is uncorrelated with tfae measure o f depression (CES-D; r = . 11,k ). P a rtia l

correlations are also as expected; controlling for Ideal seif-discrepancy, Ought seif-

discrepancy is not significantly correlated with depression (r = .03, ng) but is significantly

correlated with FNE (r= 21, g < .0 IX SAD (r= . 17, g<.05X and the composite anxiety

measures (r = 2 4 , g = .001; see Table 5).

For tfae A sian/ Asian Americans, however, the results do not support Higgins’

predictions. As seen in Table 4 , although Ought self-discrepancy is significantly correlated

with two o f tfae three anxiety measures (r= 2? and 2 4 for tfae SAD and composite

measures, respectively, g < .01X it is also significantly correlated w ith depression (r = 2 9 ,

g < .05). Further, partial correlations show that after controlling for Ideal sd f-

discrepancies, Ought self-discrepancy is not a significant predictor o f any o f the anxiety

measures (r = .1 0 , .11, and .13 forthcFN E.SA D , and composite measures, respectively,

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Thus, Higgins* predictions regarding ought self-discrepancies arc fu lly replicated for

the Bnopean Americans, but not replicated among A sian/Asian Americans

TAat —^-discrepancy. Among European Americans, and consistent w ith Higgins*

(1987) predictions, Ideal self-discrepancy is rignifkantty correlated wtfh depression (r =

19, p < .01). Hnweiitt; incnn«i«tent with Higgins* pedietinM, Iifat«eK<&i!wp«iieyk

also significantly correlated with two o f tbe tfaree anxiety measures (r = 2 5 and 2 A fo r tfae

SAD and composite anxiety measures, respectively, gs= .001). The partial correlations

also show lim ited support for Higgins’ predictions. Consistent with predictions, after

controlling for Ought self-discrepancy, Ideal seif-discrepancy is s till a significant predictor

o f depression (r = .1 6 , g < .05), but is not a significant predictor o f two ofthe anxiety

measures (r= .01 and .10 for the FNE and composite measures, respectively, nsl.

However, contrary to prediction, after controlling for Ought self-discrepancy, Ideal setf-

discrepancy is s till a significant predictor o f social avoidance (r = .14, g < .05).

Among Asian / Asian Americans, there is again less support for Higgins’s

predictions. The simple correlations (see Table 4 ) show a pattern that is opposite to that

predicted: Ideal self-discrepancy is only marginally significantly correlated with depression

(r= .15, g < ,10) but i§ significantly correlated with two ofthe three anxiety measures (r=

.28 and .22 for the SAD and composite anxiety measures, respectively, ps < .01). Fnrtfaer,

partial cocrciatioas show that after controlling for Ought seifdiscrepancy, Ideal self-

discrepancy is not a significant predictor ofany measure o f anxiety (r = -.03, ,12, and .06

fee the FNE, SAD, and composite measures, respectively, b ) depression (r=.03, tg)-

gassiblc CTtanariong for ftih irc to replicate H ipp.w finding Thus, although

there is gpod support fo r tfae predictions o f self-discrepancy tfacosy among European

Americans, no support f ir the discriminant valiifity o f ideal mid ought seif-discrepancy is

100

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. found among Asian / Asian Americans Tangpcy et aL (1998) have suggested fla t such

failures to replicate Higgins may be due to a failure to measure distinct self-discrepancies,,

generally because participants are unabte to adccgiatcty distinguish between foe idea? and

ought scl£ cither in concept or vocabulary. High correlations between ideal and ought self-

discrepancies would indicate such a faifare to discriminate, between ideal and ought scif-

tfiscrepancics. As seen in Table 4 , the Asian/Asian Americans, for whom replication o f

Higgins’ findings was not obtained, demonstrate a sign ificantly higher cocrelatioa between

the Ideal and Plight self-discrepancy (r = .7 1 ) than tbe Bnopean Americans (r= .4 8 ,z =

3 3 0 , g < Q1) l

This difference suggests that the failure to better replicate Higgins’ predictions

among the Asian/Asian Americans may supply be because tfae A sian/ Asian Americans

were less likely to generate distinct lists o f attributes for the ideal and ought selves. I f so,

this could be due to a greater difficulty in distinguishing between ideal and ought or greater

difficulty generating lists o f distinct words (due to fatigue or vocabulary lim itations). If

these problems did exist, it would be expected that subsets o f Asian/Asian Americans

who found tbe task less difficult or generated more distinct lists o f words would ( I) show

lower correlations between Ideal and Ought selfdiscrepancies than other Asian/Asian

Americans and (2 ) show better replication o f Higgins’ findings- The following analyses

were conducted to explore these hypotheses.

A ll participants indicated how difficult they found the task o f distinguishing

between tbe ideal and ought selves on a four-point scale ranging from “Not at a ll difficult"

to “Vefy difficult.’*On average, Asian/Asian Americans did report finding it significantly

more difficult to distinguish between the frfral and ought selves (M = 2 3 0 , S D — .8 4 ) than

tfae European Americans (M = I54 ,S D = .80, t= -3.94, g< .00IX Difficulty ratings do not

101

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. d iffe r as a fim ctkm o fcitizenship status1 (£ (2 ,134)= L44,gg,YZ=.021)crGPA(r=.03>

gg) among tfae Asian/Asian Americans Iftfae Asian/Asian Americans are divided into

two groups, Lour D ifficulty (D ifficulty tarings o f 1, “not at a ll difficult,” or 2 , “stigfatiy

difficult;” n = 83) and High D ifficulty (ratings o f 3, “somewhat difficult," or 4 “V e ry

drffioife,” a=60X both groups demonstrate high correlations between the Ideal and Ought

sctf^fjscrcpancv. In fec t, the Low D ifficulty Group demonstrates a slightly higher

correlation (r = .76) tfaan the High D ifficulty group (r = .66).

Simple and partial correlations for tfae Low D ifficulty gamps (both Asian / Asian

American and Eoropcan American) are presented in columns S and 8 m Table 5. For

comparison, correlations for tfae total sanqrics are presented in columns 4 and 1 . F o r tfae

Low difficulty Asian/Asian Americans, the simple correlations between Ougfat seif-

discrepancy and tfae measures o f depression and anxiety are comparable to tfaose for tfae

total sample o f Asian/Asian Americans. Although Ought sclf-discrcpancv is not

significantly correlated with depression (r = .15) among tfae Low D ifficulty Asian / Asian

Americans, this lack o f significance is likely due to the reduction in power as a result o f the

smaller sample size. In addition, partial condatioos s till are not significant fo r any

measure, although tfae partial correlation is marginally significant for tfae composite anxiety

measure (r =.18 , 2 < -10). Ideal self-discrepancy continues to show higher simple

condatmns with anxiety tfaan w ith depression, and no significant partial conefalhm with

any measure, once Ougfat seifitfiscrcpancy is controlled fer.

fas contrast, fe e patterns o fc o n d a liio n s fe r th e L o w D iffic u lty B nopean Am ericans

m inor tbosc found in the total European American sample. Thus, although tfae A sian/

^xcfnriinglfac six: parttcfoam who in

UK2

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Asian Americans report more difficulty in distinguishing between, the ideal and onghf

seivestfaantheEuiopeaa Americans, even those A sian/ Asian Americans who found tfae

task less difficult s till show a high correlation between Ideal and Ought scif-discrcpancics.

A second possibility ts that participants may have understood tfae difference

between Idea? and Ought selves, but had difficulty generating distinct lists o fattributes for

each self, d ie to factors such as fatigue or limited vocabulary (Tangneyctal, 1998). To

thty^ ^ nnm W o fjjffltfic ill WOfdff jjCTOB Hint wnghr liirt* xnast e a lm h tw i

for each participant, and ranged from 0 to 9. A score o f 3 , for example; would indicate that

ofthe 10 attributes generated to describe the ought self (S for Ought-Own and 5 for Ought-

Other), 3 were also used to describe the ideal self and 7 are unique to the ought s e lf Asian

/ Asian Americans and European Americans do not differ in the average number o f

redundant words used (M =2.71 and 2.34, respectively, t = -1 3 3 , d f = 334, as). For

example, 23.3% o f European Americans and 21.6% o f Asian / Asian Americans had 0

redundant words. In addition, the number o f redundant words does not differ significantly

according to citizenship status (g (2,134) = .131,05, f 2 = 002; see Footnote 1) among tfae

A sian / Asian Am ericans. Among both Asian / Ascut Americans and European Am ericans,

number o f redundant words is uncorrelated with GPA (r < -.01 and r = .03 for Bnopean

Americans and Asian / Asian Americans, respectively) and ratings o f the difficulty o f

distinguishing between ideal and ought selves (r = .04 and .03 for European Americans and

Asian /A sian Americans, respectively). Thus, some other factor, such as motivation, likefy

dtstraguishes between those who did and did not generate largely distinct lists o f woctk.

A Lour Redundancy group was created by mcfadiiig only those participants with

tmo or fewer redundant words ( n - 117 and 7S for tbe European Americans and A sian/

AsiaaAmericant. respectively). The simple and partial correlations for this group; fo r both

103

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the A sian/ Asian American ami European American participants, are presented in columns

6 aod 9 o f Table 5. As seen m the first row, the correlation between Meal and Oo^taelE>

discrepancy is s till somewhat, but ooly marginally significantly, higher for tfae A siaa/

Asian Aaaericans (r = .58) than for the European Americans (r= 3 8 ,5 = 1.75, p < .10).

Results fo r the Low Redundancy groups are sim ilar to those for the Low D ifficulty

group and the total sample. Among the Asum/Asian Americans, sanpfecorrebtifliis better

support Higgins’ predictions ib r Ibe Ought selfidiscrepancy, although Ought self

discrepancy is s till marginally significantly correlated with depression (r = 3 2 , g < .10).

Partial corrdalkins between Ought s e lf discrepancy and tbe emotional distress measures,

cottfroUingfor Ideal self-discrepancy, s till do not conform to Higgins’ (1987) predictions.

For Ideal self-disciepancy, simple correlations show that it is s till better correlated with

anxiety than depression. Partial correlations show that, after controlling for Ought self-

discrepancy, Ideal selfdiscrepancy is aot significantly correlated with any measure o f

anxiety or depression. Among Low Redundancy European Americans, however, simple

and parted correlations are consistent w ith Higgins’ predictions fo r die Ougbt s e lf

discrepancy. Simple conclations continue to show a lack ofdiscrimmant validity for the

Ideal sdfdiscrepancy, which correlates significantly w ith both depression and anxiety.

Partial correlations; however, better sapport Higgins* predictions.

In sum, Higgins’ predictions regarding tbe relationship between self-discrepancy,

anxiety and depression, are only partially replicated. Among Bnopean Americans, Ought

sdfdiscrepancy shows the expected pattern o f being significantly correlated with

depreamnit and mienmlaterf with anviety fnterm* nftmth «rnipfe and partial rww hticic

also correlates with social anxiety, demonstrating a lack o f expected discriminant validky. 10S

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. These findings fo r Ideal and Ought sel£discrepancies arc coosistetit regardless o fwhether

one looks a t tfae total European American sample; onty thosewho found A c task low in

largely «

ought selves.

Among Asian/Asian Americans, however, it was mote difficult to replicate

H iggins' fmifing* Onghf «rffctfiy»»wpnni»y (Bit p i p f ^ Hitfrim in an t

validity among those participants who found the task less difficu lt. However, although

shnple conclations revealed the expected pattern o f significant correlations with social

anxiety and no correlation with depression, partial correlations did not support the specific

refationship o f ought self-discrepancy to anxiety. Ideal sdfdiscrepancy not only did not

demonstrate expected (fiscriminant validity when partial conclations were considered, it

demonstrated a pattern o f simple correlations opposite that predicted by Higgins; Meal

sdfdiscrepancy is significantly correlated with anxiety, hut not depression. These findings

for Ideal self discrepancy are consistent regardless o f whether one looks at the total Asian /

Asian American sample, only those who found the task low in difficulty, or only those who

generated largely distinct lists o f attributes for the ideal and ought selves. The high

conclations between Ideal and Ought sdfdiscrepancics among a ll subsamples o f Asian /

Asian Americans, combined with the lack o f discriminant validity among even those Asian

I Asian Americans who generated distinct lists o f attributes, suggests that the ideal and

ought selves may be less distinct for Asan/Ashm Americans than for European

Am ericans

f hufcsired setfcdiserepaney and depression

In addition to ideal and ougfc self discrepancies; the present stndyabo included

nndesucd selfdiscwpancy (O gitvic, 1987). Based on previous research, undesired self- 105

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. discrepancy was expected to be a better predictor ofdepression (ban ideal sdfdiscrepancy

among both Asian/Asian Americans (Cheung 1997) a id European Americans (Ogilvie,

1987). The current study also sought to expand on tfae findings o f Cheung, whose sample

included only Chinese adolescents, and Ogflvie, whose sample included ooiy Bnopean

American students,, fay comparing the relative usefulness ofthe undesired sdfdiscrepancy

between groups. Doe to Asian cuftorat emphasis oa avoiding failure mtfaer than attaining

success (Cheung 1997^ undesired s e lf discrepancy was expected to bee stronger predictor

o f depression among Asian / Asian Americans than among European Americans. Although

comparisons o f simple conclations do not provide support for these hypotheses,

hierarchical regression analyses do indicate that undesired self-discrepancy Is a uniquely

iiwpnrtan* nf^fpff«inn

The simple correlatioas between CES-D scores and Undesired and Ideai self-

discrepancies were compared using {-tests fig dependent samples As seen in Table 4,

Undesired self-discrepancy is a significant predictor o f depression among Asian / Asian

Americans (r = -2&X while Ideal sdfdiscrepancy is not (r= .15). However, this difference

is not significant f t = L 27.d f= 145. nsl. Similarfyr the correlation between Undesired self-

discrepancy aod depression among European Americans (r= .27) is nor significantly

greater than the condatioa between depression and Ideal sclf-discrepancy (r ~ . 19, {= .90,

d f= 190, gg). Thus, simple conclatioos do not indicate a stronger relationship between

depression and undesited sdfdiscrepancy tfaan between depression and ideal self*

discrepancy amoog cither Asian/Asian Americans or European Americans Further,*

Fisher's z-test shows the correlation between Undesired sdfdiscrepancy and depression is

not significantly greater fee Asian/Asian Americans fa n f ir Bnopean Americans (z = .10, gs). 106

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Hnmgwer lilerarrhiral ig£rw»initt thna ifaf nftfr mn^mlKng fhr H ^ l awl flwght

r>paiu«»» l lnAy^l ^{P^wfwpanfy ffflf irrwinti fry ripiififart Mrunf» m

depression. Each ofthe three composite selfdiscrepancy scores (Ideal, Ought, and

Undesized) was entered in a separate step o f a faierazchicat regression equation, w ith GES>

l> scores as tbe dependent variable. Separate regression equations were calculated for tbe

Asian/Asian American and European American participants The results o f these

regression analyses are presented in Table 6.

For both Asian/Asian Americans and Ehropcan Americans, Ougbt self-

discrepancy was entered nr step I, Ideal selfdiscrcpancy in step 2 , and Undesired set£>

discrepancy in step 3 . Consistent with the hypotheses, for Asian/Asian Americans, there

is a significant R2 change between steps 2 and 3 (AR2 = .056, g < .OIX indicating that once

variance Are to Ougbt and Meal self-discrepancies is accounted for, Undesired self

discrepancy s till accoonts fo r a significant increase in variance in depression. Tbe lack o f

significant R2 change between steps 1 and2(AR.2= .0O l. nsl indicates that for Asian/

Asian Americans, Ideal self discrepancy does not explain any variance in depression

beyond that already accounted for by Ought self discrepancy, as already revealed by the

partial correlations reported in Table 5.

For the European Americans, however, tbere is a significant cbange in R2 between

steps 1 and 2 (AR2= .0 2 , g < .05), indicating that Ideal sclf-discrcpancy does account for a

significant increase in variance in depression after variance doe to Ought sdfdiscrepancy

is accounted fix , as expected based on the results ofthe partial correlations reported earlier

h i addition, as expected. Undesired self discrepancy accounts ib r a significant increase in

variance, even after variance in depression due to Ought and Ideal sclf-discrcpandcs is

accounted for (AR2 between steps 2 and 3 —.0 6 ,g < .001). 107

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. . These results show tbat fo r both A sian/ Asian Americans and European

A nvricanr, undesired reif-discrcpancics are important predictors o f depression even after

controlling for both ideal andougbtscif-discrcpancies. They do not reveal whether ideal or

undesired selfdiscrepancy, however. Is other words, do idea&or ougfat selfdiscrepaacies

a M awyrftmg la wirwnAntanHtng nft{»pr>winn amnng

discrcpancy the single roost useful predictor o f depression? To determine this, additional

hierarchical regression analyses were conducted.

For botfi Asian /A sian American and Bnopean Americans, Undesired s e lf

discrepancy was entered in step I. For Asian/Asian Americans, Ideal sdfdiscrepancy

was enteredm step 2 , and Ougfat selfdiscrepancy (die only other type o f sdfdiscrepancy

found to be significantly correlated with depression) was entered in step 3 . For European

Americans, Ougbt seifdiscrepancy was entered ut step 2, and Ideal sdfdiscrepancy was

entered in step 3. As seen in Table 7, fbrthe Asian/Asian Americans, Ougbt seif-

disczepancy does not account for any additional increase in variance in depression after

accounting fo r variance due to Undesired and Ideal self-discrepancies (ARZ between steps

2 and 3=.004* as). For tfae European Americans, however, Ideal self-discrepancy does

account fo r asm ali, but significant, increase in variance in depression, even after

controlling fo r Undesired and Ought self discrepancies (ARZ between steps 2 and3 = .0 23 ,

2 < 05). Thus, Undesired sdf-discrepancy appears to be the single most useful predictor o f

depression fo r Asian/Asian Americans; while both Undesired and Ideal selfdiscrepancies

are iw efiil prerfirfng* n f rfffprrettinn fh r P ttrryat* X n u ^ it - a n *

IOS

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. IlmfanigH jglKHiwj wMnetf ami w ia l amriftv JuSBDCEtnU3U UCoDCu|0ltQ ^Jts3LJDQ U&LBSBSV.

Uadesired s e lf discrepancy was abo expected to predict social anxiety.

Specifically, Undesired selfidiscrepaacy was expected to be a stronger pvedictor o f social

anxiety than Ought sdfdiscrepancy among both Asian/Asian Americans and European

Americans, and a stronger predictor fig Asian/Asian Americans than for European

Americans. Again, both simple correlations and hierarchical regression analyses were used

to test these hypotheses. Although comparisons o f simple correlations do not provide

support for these hypotheses, hierarchical regression analyses do provide partial support.

As can be scot in Table 4 , simple correlations do not support the hypothesis that

Undesiied self-discrepancy is a stronger predictor o f social anxiety than Ougbt self

discrepancy. Among neither Asian / Asian Americans nor European Americans are the

conreJatioiis between Uhdesired self-discrepancy and any o f the anxiety measures greater

than the correlations between Ought sclf-discrepancy and the anxiety measures. Further,

the correlations between Undesired self-discrepancy and the anxiety measures are not

greater for Asian /A sian Americans than fig European Americans.

However, hierarchical regressions do support the hypothesis that Undesired self

discrepancy explains unique, additional variance in social anxiety not for by

Idcai or Ought sclfdiscrepancics. Given that FNE scores are nncorrelated with self-

tfiscrepancxes fig the A sian/A son Americans (see Table 4X separate analyses were

conducted with SAP and FNE scores as dependent variables; rather than using the

composite anxiety score. For both Asian / Asian Americans and European Americans,

Ideal self-discrepancy was entered at step 1, Ought self-discrepancy in step 2 , and

Uhdesired selfdiscrepancy m step 3 (seeTable 8).

109

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Looking first at Asian / Asan Americans’ SAD scores, as expected, there is a

significant R2 change between steps 2 and 3 (AR2= .033,2 < .05), indicating that once

variance due to Meal and Ought self-discrepancies is accounted fo r, Uhdesired sel£>

discrepancy s till accounts for a small, but significant increase in variance in social

avoidance. Further, tfae lack o f significant R2 change between steps 1 and 2 (AR2=.012,

IS ) indicates that for Asian/Asian Americans, Ought self-discrepancy does not explain

any variance in social avoidance beyond that already accounted for by Meal self-

discrepancy. This finding is consistent w ith the partial correlations reported eartier.

However, nooc o f the three types o f sdfcdiscrepancy, separately or in combination,

accounts fo r a significant amount o f variance in fear o f negative evaluation Together, tfae

three sclf-discrepancy scores account fo r less than 2% o f the variance in FNE scores.

BnrthfeFjimp^m American*, hrtwever then* i> a small, cfamgg HI

R2 between steps 1 and 2 for both SAD scores (AR2 = .03, g < .05) and FNE scores (AR2=

.0 5 , g < MX consistent w ith tfae partial correlations reported earlier. This indicates that

Ought self discrepancy does account fig a significant increase in variance in both soda!

avoidanceand fear o f negative evaluation after variance due to Ideal self-discrepancy is

accounted for. However, contrary to predictions, Uhdesired self-discrepancy docs not

account for a significant increase in variance in cither social avoidance or fear o f negative

evaluation (AR? between steps 2 and 3 * .02, jb for both).

These remits ahaw that for Asian/ Asira Americans, nmfeairad selfdjscrepmeiea

am impnrtanf prwfirfnrs n f social avnitfanre eugn rrurfrnlKng f ir w hn«h tA»al aarf n.jgtrf

self-discrepancies. For European Americans; ought self-discrepancies emerged as

significant predictors nfsociaiavnHtance and fear rfneffltiveevalhatinn after anwrmllmg

110

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. fo r ideal sclf-disciepaiicy. To determine whether ideal seiFdisctepancies add anything to

our undeotandmgafsocai anxiety amoog either group, additional hierarchical regressioa

analyses were conducted.

For bods Asian and European Americans; Uhdesired sel£discrepancy was entered

in step 1, Ought selfsfiscrepancy was entered m step 2, and Ideal sei£disciepancy was

entered in step 3. As seen in Table 9, for Asian/Asian Americans, Ought seifidiisctcpancy

does account fo r a significant increase in variance in social avoidance, after controlling for

Undesiied sdfdiscrepancy (AR2 between steps 1 and 2 — .046. g < .01). Meal self

discrepancy, however, does not account for a significant increase in variance beyond that

accounted fo r by Undesired and Ought self-discrepancies (AR2 between steps 2 and 3 =

.014, eg). Consistent with earlier analyses, none o f the three types o f self-discrepancy

accounts for a significant portion o f the variance in fear o f negative evaluation.

For Fompean American^ Ought

increase in variance in social avoidance (SAD scores) and fear o f negative evaluation (FNE

scores), after controlling for Undesired seif-discrcpancy (AR2 between steps 1 and 2 = .038

and.033, respectively, g < .01). In addition. Ideal sel£discrepancy accounts for a

significant mctcasc in variance in social avoidance beyond that accounted fo r by Undesired

and Ougbt self-discrepancies (AR2 between steps 2 and 3 = .019, g < .05). Ideal sdf»

discrepancy docs not account for a significant increase in variance in fear o f negative

evaluation after controlling fo r Undesiied and Ougbt sdgdtsctepancics (AR? between steps

2 and 3 < .0 0 1 , b ) . Hu s ,for Asian/Asian Americans, both undesiied and ougbt self*

ifar.irpanries appear to ho useful predictor* o fmctal avnufanre Fnr Fnmpcan Anvriran*

III

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. both ought and ideal selFdiscrepancies appear to be naefiit predictors o f social avoidance*

while ought sefPdisctepancy appears to be the single most useful predictor o f fear o f

negative evaluation

In sum, the hypotheses regarding sclfcdisctcpancy, depression, and social aroricty

are partially supported in the current samples, Simple correfatioas show that undcsired self-

discrepancy is not more strongly related to depression than idea I self-d iscrepancy, nor

more strongly related to social anxiety than ought self discrepancy. However, undesired

self discrepancy does explain unique variance in depression and social anxiety not

explained by the other types o f selfdiscrepancy. For Asian/Asian Americans, undesiied

self-discrepancy explains a significant increase in variance in depression beyond that

accounted for by ideal and ought self-discrepancy, which do not explain any variance in

depression after controlling for undesired selfdiscrepancy. For European Americans, both

iimWrwt M«t idrat srff-riiSCITpn,vr*^g wpbin nmV|n» pnftiwic pf yarianry in dfpff l fi^H

Thus; fo r Asian / A ran Americans; undesired sei£dtscrepancy appears to be the singte

most useful predictor o f depression. For European Americans; both undesired and ideal

self-discrepancies are uniquely important predictors o f depression.

For social anxiety, however, none o f the three types o f self-discrepancy appears to

explain any significant portion o f the variance us fear o f negative evaluation for Asian/

Asran Americans, while both undesired and ought seiMactepancies explain significant

portions afth e variance in social avoidances For European Americans* nndesired self-

discrepancy does not explain any additional variance nr cither type o f social anxiety

beyond that accounted fo r by ought and ideal selftfisercpancics. Ideal sdfdjscaepancy

docs areorag fo r some unique variance in soda! avoidance after controlling for undcsireri

112

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and ought sdfdiscrepancies-Thus, undesired and ought self-discrepancies are useful

predictors afsocia! avoidance fo r Asian/Asian Americans, while both ought and ideal

selfdiscrcpancics are useful predictors o f social avoidance fo r European Americans fa

addition, ought scjfofiserepancy is toe moat uscfiil piedietor cffear o f negative evaluation

among European Americans.

The fiu h ie ofselfdiscrepancy to account for any significantvariance m fear o f

negative evaluation among Asian/Asian. Americans, combined with the small amount o f

variance in either depression or social anxiety accounted for by selfdiscrepancy amoog

either Asian / Asian Americans or European Americans; supports the need to explore other

important predictors o f emotional distress. One such predictor, particularly o f social

anxiety, that was examined in the present study is selfconstruaL

xXxuQclaErUSESelfconstnial

Given that those higher in interdependence place greater emphasis on social

mfationships. it is not surprising that prior research and theory (OkaTaki, 1997) have finked

an interdependent selfconstnial to social anxiety, h i the current sample; both independent

and interdependent seif-construais were measured in order to examine their relationship

with social anxiety, depression, and sdfdiscicpancy among bods Asian /A sian Americans

and European Americans Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for the S clf-

Construal Scale (SCS) are presented in Table 10. The reliabilities o f the two SCS subscales

are acceptable; though somewhat low , ranging between .67 and .73. These reliabilities are

comparable tnthosc reported elsewhere in the literature (see H anfin,icoog, Chou, A

Bhagwst, 2001, tor a review).

A 2 (ethnicity) x 2 (gender) MANOVA, with Independence and Interdependence

as toe dependent variables shows a significant mam effect o f ethnicity oo Interdependence 113

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (F ( I,335)= 17.73, 2 < -001, y2= 5 ), w it Asian/Asian Americans dcmnnsf rating a

greater interdependent sdf-construal (M = 3.91) than European Ameticans (M =3.61).

There is also a mam effect o f ethnicity on Independence (£ ( I, 335) ~ 4 3 2 , g< .05,y*=

,12X w ith European Americans demonstrating a slightly higher independent self-constroal

(M = 4.06)than Asian/ Asian Americans (M = 3.93). There is no significant main effect of

gender on either Interdependence (£ (1 ,335)=2.48, ig ) or Independence (£ (1,335)=

1.19, ng), nor any significant ethnicity by gender interactions (g (1,335)= .53 and 2.49, for

Interdependence and Independence, respectively, bothn& bothy2 < .01). Interesringly,

Independence and Interdependence are not correlated among Asian/Asian Americans (r=

.12. nsl but arc correlated among European Americans (r = .2 3 , g < .01; see Table 4).

hr tfae current samples, the conelations between self-constnial, depression, and

social anxiety (see Table 4) largely replicate the findings o f Okazaki (1997), who found

that both Interdependence and Independence were significantly correlated w ith depression

(using the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979) and social

anxiety (using the SAD and FNE) in a combined sample ofA sian/A sian Americans and

European Am erican* In the current sampfeg, ahhough Tnrerdeperufenf» i«i m * rigm firanriy

correlated w ith social avoidance (SAD), higher levels o f interdependence arc associated

with greater fear o f negative evaluation (FNE) for both the European Americans (r = . 19, g

< .01)andAsian/Asian Americans (r = 3 2 , g < 001). In both groups, higher levels of

independence are associated with lower levels ofboth fear o f negative evaluation (r = -3 9

and-3 1 for the Asian/Asian Americans and European Americans, respectively, gs<

.001) and social avoidance (r = -.2 9 and -3 1 fin tfae Asian / Asian Americans and

European Americans, respectively, < .001). Neither interdependence nor independence

114

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. i« «Efa»«l t

ntfpnf^ponifwfe iffprewinn k marginally n'gnififairffirtliy A«ifln / A«ian Ammeam

Cr=.15,B

Self-constnial aiuf distress

ft was expected that selfconstnial would moderate the relationship between self

discrepancy and emotional distress, such that “Own” discrepancies (Le^ ideal-own, ought-

own, and undesired-own) ate more predictive o f distress among independent participants

and “Other” discrepancies (Le., ideal-other, ought-other, and undesired-other) are mote

predictive cd distress among interdependent participants. Ideal-own, Ought-own, and

Uadesircd-ownself-discrepancies were averaged to yield a single Own self-discrepancy

score, and a sim ilar Other selfdiscrepancy score was obtained by averaging the three types

o f other self discrepancy. These combined semes were centered by subtracting the mean

from each score (see Aiken & West, 1991) and used in a series o f hierarchical regressions

to test the moderating nature o f self-construal on the relationship between scifdjsctepancy

and distress.

Own self-discrepancies and independence. For tfae first set o f analyses, depression

and social anxiety were predicted using Own sclfdiscrcpancics and independence. Own

self-discrepancies were entered in tfae firs t step, the moderator variable o f independence

(SCS Independence scores) was entered in the second step, and the interaction between

Own self discrepancy and independence was entered in the third step. For depression (see

Table II ) , Own self-discrepancies account for a significant amount o f variance in

depression in step I fbrbotb Asian/Asian Americans (R2= .085, p < .001) and European

Americans (R2= .061, g=.001X as expected. Also as expected, Independence does not

M X t m m t f r r a «ignifipanr i n v aria n t in ~> Gw.-rtlv^ Aran f Aran Am^rir-aw

115

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (Ag? < .001, fg ) or European Americans (Ag2=.003, ^H ow ever, coabaiyto

expeetadon, tfae interactioa between Own seif^iiscxepancy and bufependence a not

significant in step 3 for either Asian/Asian Americans (A&2= .002, k ) o r European

Americans (Ag2=.003, nsl.

Tfae results f ix social anxiety a re presented in T ab le 12. G iven th e lack o f

rehriooslrip between selfdiscrepancy and fear o fnegative evaluation fix A sian/ Asian

Americans, only social avoidance (SAD scores) was considered fo r this group. For the

European Americans, the composite social anxiety score was used as tfae dependent

variable. As sees in Table 12, Own self-discrepancies account for a significant amount o f

variance in social avoidance for tfae Asian/Asian Americans (R2 instep 1 = .I3 6 , b < .0 0 1 )

and in social anxiety fix the European Americans (R2 in step 1 = .0S1 , b < .001). In step !2,

Independence does account for a significaitt increase in variance in social avoidance for the

Asian / Asian Americans (AR2 = .05, p < .01) and in social anxiety fix tfae European

Americans (AR2=.073, g < .001). This is consistent with tfae strong cotidatiop between

Independence and SAD scores reported cariicr. Again, however, tfae interaction between

Own sel£discrcpancy and Independence is not significant in step 3 fix either the A sian/

Asian Americans (AR2=.003, jg ) or European Americans (AR2 < .001, ns).

The non-significant effects o f the interaction provide no evidence for different

slopes ofthe regression equation fix different levels o f independence. In other words,

indepen

and depression or social anxiety; own self-discrepancies are significant predictors o f both

depressioo and social anxiety, reg adfcss o f level o f independence^ However, factor

analyses aftfae two SCS scales b three large samples ofAsren/Asian Americans and

European Americans have tentatively identified three subscales w ithin each o f the SCS 116

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. scales (Hardm ctaL, 2001). The three Independence subscales are Behavioral Consistency

(2 itemsX Primacy o f S elf (3 itemsX and Assertiveness/Autonomy (10 hems), hr tfae

r cuncnt sample, reliabilities for the three subscales are adnqiafr, especially given tfae small

numbers o f items on some scales (a = .6 3 , .53, and .67 for tfae Behavioral Consistency,

Primacy o f Sd£ and Autonomy / Assertiveness scales; respectively.)

These three subscales were considered separately as moderators o f the relationship

between Own se lf discrepancies and depression and social avoidance. The only significant

analysis was fo r the Primacy o f S e lf subscalc among European Americans on the SAD. As

seen in Table 13, Own selfdiscrepancies account for a significant amount o f variance in

social avoidance in step 1 (Rz = .08, g < .001). Primacy o f S elf does not account fo r a

significant increase in variance in step 2 (ARZ< .001, ^ X but the interaction between

Primacy o f S elf and Own self-discrepancics is significant in step 3 (AR2 = .02, g < .05).

This indicates that for European Americans, as Primacy o f S elf increases, Own self-

discrepancies become stronger predictors o f social avoidance.

Other self-discrepancies and Interdependence. The results ofthe analyses w ith tfae

complete Interdependence scale are sim ilar to the results for Independence. As seen in

Table 14, Other sdf-disctcpancics are significant predictors o f depression fo r both A sian/

Asian Americans (R2= .045, g < .01) and European Americans (R2=.048, g < .01). In step

2, Interdependence also accounts for a small, but significant, increase in variance in

depression for A san/A san Americans (AR2= .036, g<.OS) and European Americans

(ABz=.023,g < .Q 5). Finally, interdependence docs not moderate the relationship between

Other self discrepancies and depression for either the A san/ Asian Americans (A ^ <

.001, B tl or Baopcan Americans (A B f—.006^flgX as indicated by the nottsjgpifieant

interaction e ffects in step 3 . 117

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I k results for social anxiety are presented ia Table IS . Again, only social

avoidance (SAD scores) was used as the dependent variable for the Asian / Asian

Americana, while tfae composite social anxiety score (combined SAD and FNE scores} was

used as the dependent variable for the European Americans. As expected, Other sdf-

discrepancy accounts for a significant amount ofvariance in social avoidance fin tfae Asian

/ Asian Americans * .079, g < .001} and m social anxiety f ir tfae European Americans

(R2= .127,p < .OOIX Interdependence does not account fin a significant mctease in

variance in step 2 for either the Asian/Asian Americans (AR2 = 0 0 1 . ns> or the European

Americans (AR2= .027, as). Finally, the interaction between Other sei£disercpancy and

Interdependence is not significant for eitber tfae Asian / Asian Americans (A&2=.002, & )

or the European Americans (AR2as.0Q2r nyX as evidenced by the ntm-rignificant

interaction term in step 3.

The three Interdependence subscalcs identified by Hardin ctaL (2001) were also

fonciilwwf af mmf>pitnt«n f ffhtinnff|jp OffaftT a tu t

depression and social anxiety. The three subscalcs are Esteem for tfae Group (7 itemsX

Self-Sacrifice (4 items) and Relational Interdependence (4 items). Reliabilities in tfae

current sample are adequate (a = 3 73 , S > and .35, respectively). However, none o f the

three subscales is a significant moderator o f tfae relationship between Other self-

discrepancies and depression or social avoidance, in the total sample or the separate A sian/

Asian American and Bnopcan American samples. Thus; the hypothesis that

interdependence moderates tfae rd ationship between Other sclfidiireiepancics and

emotional distress is not supported; Other sdfidisctepancies are significant predictors o f

depression and social avoidance, reganflcsstf levels o f interdependence.

II*

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Smrnnarv fer Srff-TnnrtnHl

Takeatogether, then* the above results suggest that higher levels o f

interdependence are associated w ith higher levels o f social anxiety, particularly fear o f

negative evaluation, while higher levels ofindependence arc associated w ith tower levels

ofsocial anxiety. Finally, with one exception, the (fata do not suggest that seffconstrual

moderates the relationship between selfdiscrepancy and tfistress; both own and other setf-

discrepancies are significant predictors o f depression and socia l avoidance; regardless o f

selficonstruaL The only exception is that for European Americans who are higher in the

specific Primacy o f S elf aspect o f independence, Own self-discrepancies are stronger

predictors o f social avoidance than for European Americans who are lower in Primacy o f

S e lf

nprimimanrfPftBpmwpy

hr addition to sdf-construaf optimism and pessimism were also explored as

predictors o f depression and anxiety among A sian/ Asiao Americans and Enropcan

Americans. Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities on the Extended Life

Orientation Test (ELO T) are presented inTable 16- Scale reliabilities on the Optimism and

Pessimism scales range from adequate to good for both the Asian/Asian American and

European American participants.

Based on previous research (Chanfr 1996), Asian /A sian Americans were

expected to have higher pessimism scores than European Americans, but not to d iffer in

optimism. No predictions regarding gender were made. As predicted, a 2 (ethnicity) X 2

(gender) M ANQVA, w ith ELOT Optimism and Pessimism scores as the dependent

variables, revealed a significant main effect ofethnicity on pessimism (g (1,336)=3<.Q S,

B < .0 0 1 ,t Z:= .IP X with Asian/Asian Americans demonstrating higher levels o f 119

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. pessimism (M =25.03) than European Americans (M =20.56). Also as predicted, there is

M t nsigpificam main effect o f ethnicity on Optim ism (g (l, 336)= ^5>B^-yz<.Q IX

■■Seating that Asian / Asian Americans and European Americans do not differ m levels o f

optimism (M =21.79 and 22.11, respectively). Average scores are comparable totiiose

obtained by Chang (1996). The MANOVA revealed no gender differences in optimism (M

=22 and 21.93 for men and women, respectively, £(1,336)=.01, 001) or

pessimism (M =22.79and 22^9 for men and women, respectively, £ (1,336)=.003, ns.

? *< .001). Tfae interaction between ethnicity and gender was not significant for either

optimism Q* ( I, 336)=2JJQ, is , f* < .01) or pessimism (F (1 , 336)=.28, ^ -f2 < .001).

Based on previous research on optimism and pessimism (Chang, 1996), it was

expected that lack o f optimism would be mote predictive o f depression than pessimism for

Asian / Asian Americans, while pessimism would be more predictive o f depression than

optimism for European Americans. As seen in Table 4 , both optimism and pessimism are

significantly correlated w ith depression for both groups. To determine whether optimism

accounts fin additional variance in depression, beyond that accounted fo r by pessimism,

hierarchical regression analyses were used. For both Asian / Asian Americans and

European Americans, ELOT Pessimism scores were entered instep I and ELOTT Optimism

scores were entered m step 2 , w ithCES-P scores as the dependent variable. As seen in

Table 17, there is a small, bat significant change n* R-2 (AR*= .02, £ (L, 145)=3.93, p <

.05) between steps I and 2 for the Asian / Asian Americans only. This indicates that fcr

Asian / Asian Americans, bat not European Americans, optimism explains a «fgnifiran»

increase in variance in depression beyond that already accounted fo r by pessimism. Tims,

although lack o f optimism is not the single best predictor o f depression among A s ia i/

Asan Americans, k n , as expected, a more usefiil predictor o f depression fin Asian/Ashn 120

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Americans than for European Americans. A to o f importance is A c relatively high

proportion ofvarianccm depression accounted fo r by optimism and pessimism, nearly

26% fbr Asian/Asian Americans, and nearly 30% for European Americans.

The correlations in Table 4 show that optimism and pessimism arc also significant

predictors o f social anxiety. To explore whether optimism and pessimism explain unique

pactions o f the variance in social anxiety, as they do for depression, the hierarchical

regression analyses were repeated w ith the composite social anxiety score as the dependent

variable (see Tabic 17). As seen by tfae significant change in R2 between steps I and 2 for

Asian/Asian Americans (AR2= .05, g < .0 1 ), but not for European Americans (AR2 = .01,

n s l optimism explains significant variance in anxiety beyond that accounted for by

pcssimism for Asian/Asian Americans only. Thus, as with depression, lack o f optimism is

a more useful predictor o f anxiety for Asian /A sian Americans than for European

Americans. It is important to note, however; that optimism and pessimism together explain

twice as much variance in anxiety for European Americans (R2= 3 3 ) than fix Asian/

Asian Americans (R2 = 16).

XpBSSUESIawAlSSSSBBSXlia^JBSUnUUmOnfimi

G iven th a t optim ism and pessim ism are defined as, “p o sitive and negative outcome

expectancies," (Chang; 1996, p . 113), they might be expected tobc related to ideal and

undcsiredsc!f-

ideal sctfdiscrepancy) might be expectcdtohavc higher positive outcome expectancies

(i.e ., higher optimism), w hile those who are m reKressfiilly avoiding their undesired selves

Q ^ h ffi undesired sclSdacrepaney might be expected to have higher negative outcome

expectancies (i n , higher pcsshnismX I f sty itw ould be expected that optimism would be

121

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. morehighly correlated with ideal self-discrepancy than w ith frndcsiredselgdii crcpancy,

while pentmum would be more higfily correlated with udesBed selfcfiscrepancy than

with ideal selfidiscrepaiicy.

These hypotheses are partially snppcsted. For A sian/ Asian Americana, the

correlation between pessimism and undesired selfkliscrepaocy (r = .3 6 ) g significantly

stronger thaatlre correlation between pessimism and ideal self-discrepancy (r = .17,

3.25, d f= 145, g = .OQIX For optimism, although the relative correlations do match tfae

hypothesis that optimism is more strongly correlated with ideal self-discrepancy (r = -3 4 )

than with undcsired self-discrepancy (r = -.2 9 ), this difference is not significant ft= .84, d f

= 145, asX For European Americans» pessimism a not more strongly correlated with

ondesired self-discrepancy (r = .28) than with Ideal self-discrepancy (r = .3 2 , ( = 58, d f=

190, jg ), bu* optimism ij more strongly correlated with ideal self-discrepancy (r = -3 3 )

than with undesired selfdiscrepancy (r = -.16, 1=2.43, d f = 190. g < .05).

In addition to partially supporting the hypothesis that optimism and pessimism are

related to distinct types ofscifdiscrepancy, the data also show a strong relationship

between self-discrcpancy and optimism I pessimism in general. As self-discrcpandcs

increase; pessimism increases and optimism decreases. In addition, as pessimism increases

and optimism decreases, both depression and social anxiety increase. This suggests that

optimism and pessimism may mediate the relationship between sclf-discrcpancy and

emotional distress. To investigate this possibility, hierarchical regression analyses were

conducted. Optimism and pessimism were catered in the firs t step, and the three scif-

discrepancics (Lei, Uhdesired, Ideal, and Ought) were entered in the second step. IT

122

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. emotional d irtie s , then. sef£discrepaiicy should not account fim e significant increme in

variance in distress beyond that already accounted fo r by optumsnMBid pessimism.

The results oftfae hierarchical regression analyses are consistent w ith tbis

prediction. For depression, step I ofthe regression £eeTable 18) shows that optim ism and

pessim ism together account for a. significant portion ofthe variance for both Asian/Asian

Americans (R?=* 2 6 ,p < .001) and European Americans (R?—.2 9 , p < .0 0 1 ). Ham m er* th e

change in R2 from step 1 to step 2 is not significant for cither the Asian/Asian Americans

fAR2= .01. nsl or the European Americans (AR2= .0 2 . nsl. indicating that once variance

due to optimism and pessimism is accounted fo r, sclfdiscrepancy docs not account for any

additional vasiance in depression.

For social avoidance, tfae results are sim ilar (see Table 19). Optimism and

pessimism together account for a significant portion o f the variance for both Asian / Asian

Americans (R2 = 2 0 , g < .001) and European Americans (R2= .28, g < .001) However, tfae

change in It2 from step I to step 2 is not significant for the Asian/Asian Americans (ARZ=

.03, ag) or European Americans (AR2= .0 2 , gs), indicating that once variance due to

optimism and pessimism are accounted for, seif-discrepancy does not account for any

additional variance in social avoidance.

The coirelations between optimism and pessimism, self-discrepancy, and

emotional distress, combined with the results o f the hierarchical regression analyses,

support the hypothesis that optimism and pessunisn mediate tfae relationship between sd f-

direwpancy and depression/anxiety. To test the nature ofthe relationships between trios

o f individual variables (eg^. does optimism by its e lf mediate the relationship between

Untfcnaierf setfwfagrepancy and depression?) a«riegniftiierarrKiratregcawnn anaiywe

aw e conducted. Eight analyses wete conducted fo r each ofthe ethnic groups: four w ith 123

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UndcsircdscJf-discrepancy as the independent variable (predicting depression and social

anxiety, with optimism or pessimism as the mediator), two with Ideal selfdiscrcpancy as

the independent variable (predicting depression, with optimism or pessimism^as tfae

mediator), and two w ith Ought self-discrepancy as the independent variable (predicting

social avoidance; w ith optimism or pessimism as the mediator). In a ll cases, tfae mediator

was entered in tfae firs t step ofthe regression, w ith the independent variable entered in the

second step. A non-significant change in R2 between steps one and two is consistent with

mediation, indicating that ooce variance due to the mediator is accounted for, tfae

independent variable does not account for any significant increase in variance in tfae

dependent variable^

As seen in Table 20, several ofthe analyses support tfae hypotfaesis that optimism

and pessimism mediate tfae relationship between selfidiscrepancy and depression.

Specifically, for both Asian / Asian Americans and European Americans, both optimism

and pessimism appear to mediate the relationship between ideal sclfdiscrepancy and

depression, h i addition, pessimism appears to mediate tfae relationship between nndcsircd

self-discrepancy and depression fo r Asian/Asian Americans. However, although tfae

variance in depression accounted for by Undesired self-discrepancy in the presence o f

Pessimism is not statistically significant, it is only .4% less than tfae variance accounted for

in the comparable analyses for European Americans.

The results o f the hierarchical regression analyses testing whether optimism and

pessimism mediate the rrfctfioiwhip between undesired and ought sdfidiscrepancics and

social avoidance (SAD scores) are presented in Table 21. For both Asian/Asian

Americans and European Americans, pessimism appears to mediate the relationship

between undesired self discrepancy a id social avoidance, given that undesired m

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. self-discrepancy does not account for a significant amount o f variance in SAD scores after

winhnHtng fry p^imi

between both undesired and ought sctf-discrepancics fo r tfae A sian/ Asian Americans.

Again, however, it may be more appropriate to consider optimism and pessimism as partial

medmiocs for the Asian/Asian Americans.

As a further test o f tfae mcriiational nature o f these relationships, Sobct tests

(MacKinnon, W arsi, & Dwyer. 1995;Sobd, 1982) were conducted using a program by

Preacher and Leonardelli (2001). The Sobei test determines whether tbe indirect effect o f

the independent variable (selfidiscrepancy) on the dependent variable (depression or social

avoidance), through the mediator (optimism or pessimism), is significantly different from

zero. A significant Sobcl test for those sets o f variables for which the independent variable

does account for a significant portion o f variance in the dependent variable, even in tfae

presence o f the mediator (Le., those sets o f variables with a significant change in R2 from

steps I to 2 in the above hierarchical regression analyses), is evidence o f partial mediation.

Results o f tfae Sobd test are presented m Table 22. A ll Sobd tests are significant,

indicating that optimism and pessimism are at least partial mediators o f tbe relationships

between self-discrepancy and emotional distress for both Asian/Asian Americans and

European Americans

Summary o f finding* regarding optimism and pessimism

The hypotheses regarding optimism and pessimism were largely supported. As

predicted, Asian/Asian Americans demonstrate significantly mote-pessimism than the

European Americans, but no less optimism. Further , anoag Asian/Asian Americans, both

125

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. optimism and pessimism are important predictors o f depression and social anxiety, while

among European Americans, pessimism alone appears to be tfae most useful predictor o f

Miurfmna l

Optimism and pessimism were also found to be related to self-discrepancy . As

np^imitm ami p^

apfinuf f fiut appear to be refatetf to specific typesof relf^

discrepancy. Among Asian / Asian Americans, pessimism is more strongly related to

undesued selfdiscrepancies tfaan to ideal self-discrepancies, while among European

Americans, optimism is mote strongly related to ideal setf-discrepancicstfaan to undesired

scif-discrcpancics. Finally, optimism and pessim ism were found to mediate tfae refatioiMbip

between self-discrepancy and emotional distress. Among both Asian / Asian Americans

and European Americans, optimism and pessimism mediate the relationship between ideal

trifofacrepancie* and rfffprwgginn w hite pewamiwn merfiateaO u t mbHnngfiip tWw n

undesiied selfdiscrepancy and social avoidance, particularly for European Americans.

Further, optimism and pessimism were found to be partial mediators o f the relationships

between undesiied self-discrepancy and depression and o f tfae relationships between ought

selfdiscrepancy and social avoidance for both Asian/Asian Americans and European

Americans

WithmFGronp Differences Among Asian / Asian Americans

In addition to the variables discussed above; two additional variables tbat apply to

tfae experiences o f Asmn / Asian Americans were included m tbe present study to explore

iBfaaiatawflBg Anrn/ A«m>A m «iem « variable wawa.bmatirm «wlfen.ily

conflk*. Nfcans, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for the Fam ily Conflict Scale

126

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (FCS) and the modified Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA-U)

are presented in Table 23. Reliabilities for both the FCS Likelihood and Seriousness scales

are gpod (a — .86 and .88, respectively), as are the reljabilities o f the tfaee ARSMA-g

scales, Asian identity (a = .8 8 ), Western identity (a —.86), and the unufcnensional

acculturation score (a = .9 1 ), obtained by reverse-scoring the Asian Identity items and

summing w ith th e W estern Id e n tity item s.

Awitoffalwti

Supporting the validity o f the ARSMA-H scales, age at immigration is negatively

correlated with the unkfimcasional (e = -5 2 , g < .001)and Western Identification scores (r

= -.4 9 ,g < .00IX and positively correlated with Asan Identification scores fc= .41, p <

.001). This indicates that tfae younger the individual was when he or she immigrated to tfae

United States, the more he or she identifies with Western culture and die less be or she

identifies w ith Asian culture. In addition, scores on a ll three scales differ bycitiTensliip

status2. (E (2,138)=21.73,36.21, and 37.45 for tbe Asian, Western, and imi^mgiwinnai

scores, respectively, a ll ps < .OOIX Post-hoc tests revealed that (a) for Asian identification,

the US Citizens have significantly tower scores than either the US Permanent residents or

the Intcmatiopai students; (b ) for Western identification, both the US citizens and US

«ignifiraiitty tijghw ifern tli^- Int^matWial thvfanti- ami

either die US Pennanent residents or the International students, and the US Permanent

residents have jrignificaitfiy higher genrea than tfifc mfemarinnal tfurfenf* T M tM ggprttt o

iiiifif^Hl»filh«ii»rfii|>«t^nciilW lhan ITS ritfw US

127

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TO permanent residents are the moat likely to be bkuftma^ a&tbeirWestern Identity scores

do not differ from those ofthe TO citizens, while their A n n identity scares do not differ * finm Hutfy Intfmatinnal ttmfatff

AeafiwatiQB, ”^«"“*tonal distress

As reported above; among Asian/Asian Americans; undesired selfdiscrepancy

wasfbundtobea uniquely important predictor o f depression and social anxiety. Undesired

seifdiscrepancies were expected to be important predictors o f emotional distress among

Asian / Asian Americans because o f tbe cultural emphasis on avoiding failure rather than

attaining success. Given this assumed relationship with more traditional Asian cultural

values, it w a x expected that araifrnratinn wraitd m n A m t e - rpfatinnghip htftmwi

imdesiredselfdiscrepaiicies and distress, such that undesired self-discrepancies are more

predictive o f depression and sociai avoidance among less accuttm atedAsan/Asan

Americans. To test this hypothesis, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted on tfae

entire Asian / Asian American sample; predicting depression and social avoidance from

undesired s e lfdiscrepancy and Asian identification.

For both depression and social avoidance, tfae centered, composite Undesired seif-

discrepancy score was entered m tbe first step, centered ARSM Arff Asian identity scores

were entered in tfae second step, and the product o f tfaese two scores was enteredtn tfae

tfairdstep(see Aiken & West, 1991). As seen in Table 24, step 1, Undesired s e lf

discrepancy is a significant predictor o f both depression (R?= .0 7 , g < .01) and socsd

avoidance (It* 3* .05, g < .01). L i step 2, Asian Identity accounts for a significant increase in

variance in both depression (AR2^ .03, p < .01) and sodai avoidance (AR?=.04, p<.01X

Finally, adding th r interaction between Undesired scjfdisciepancy and Asian identity m

step 3 leads to a significant increase in variance accounted fo r ia both depression (AR2= 12*

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. -&?> B < -01) an(l social avoidance (AR.2= .OS, p = .001). However, tfae negative beta-

wagfats for the interaction term fo r both depression and social avoidance indicate that the

interaction is in a direction opposite to tfaat predicted: as Asian identity increases,

undesired scifdiscicoaiicv becomes a weaker predictor ofboth depression and social

a n xiety.

Armfoiratipo ^ Pistreff

The above results indicate tfaat Asian identity is itself an important predictor o f

emotional distress among Asian / Asian Americans, which is consistent w ith ptevions

research (e.g^. Chiu et aL, 1992; Kuoi, 1984). In tbe current sample, both Asian and

Western identity are associated with depression and social anxiety. In tfae following

analyw **amtning tliw r^htimwhip jntwnatinnal ffpAntt >w> wcfffdwt if

would be impossible to separate the effects o f lower acculturation (e.g^ values conflict

w ith dominant culture) from the effects o f being a more recent immigrant (e.g^ stress a£

moving to a new country, being away from fam ily). In addition, most previous research

examining tfae relationship between acculturation and emotional distress has focused on

Asian Americans, not Asian international students. Thus, tfae Sallowing analyses include

only tfae US dtizea and US permanent resident Asian American participants (n = 86).

Consistent with previous research (c.g^ Chiu ct a i, 1992; Kuo, 1984), in the

current stndy, higher levels o f Asian identification (ARSM A-II Asian Identity scores) are

associated with higher levels o f depression (CES-D scores; r= .29 * b <.01; see Table 25),

while higher levels afWestem identification are associated with lower levels o f depression

(r = -.2 5 , g < .05). Previous research has also found that less accutoiralcd Asian Americans

experience more social avoidance than those higher in acculturation (Okazaki, 1997).

Consisten t w ith these fin d in g s, a» tfae a m e n t stndy, A sian id en tificat ion is s ig n ifican tly 129

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. correlated with SAP scores (r = .26, g <.Q5X Western identification is only marginally

significantly correlated with SAD scores (r = -19, p < .10). Neither Asian nor Western

identification is correlated wfrh FNE scores (r = .08 and .03T respectiveiyT pg). Thus, those

with stronger Asian identifications experience more depression and social avoidance, while

those w ith strongerWestern identifications experience less depression.

What about those with strong Asian and Western identifications fi.e~tacultuiai

fiufiviAiah)? To graining thig qmxtfinn a nywrnin analyse ua» BnnAirtwI pwaKrtfng

depression from acculturation. Centered Asian and Western identification scores (see

Aiken & West, 1991) and their product were entered simultaneously into the regression

equation. As seen in Table 26, the interaction term is significant (ft= 2 3 4 , g < .05),

indicating there are different slopes o f tfae regression line at different levels o f

acculturation. The interaction is plotted in Figure I , with separate regression lines

representing low , average, and high levels o f Asan identity. As recommended by Aiken

and West (199IX these lines were plotted using values o f Asian identity that are at the

mean fo r the Asian American US citizens/permanent residents, and one standard deviation

above and below th e mean.

As seen in Figure 1, tbe significant interaction between Asian and Western identity

reveals that those low inWestern identity, regardless o f then levels o f Asian identity,

appear to have comparably high levels o f depression. As Western identity increases, tfae

slope o f tfae line for those with tow Asan identities is negative, indicating that levels o f

depression decrease as Western identity increases. However, the slope ofthe regression

fines f ir those average or high m Asian identity is not significantly different from zero ( t =

-1.56 and .14, respectively, d f= 80, g X indicating that depression is not predicted to

cfaangesignificantly as Western identity increases. Thus, bicuitural individuals would be

130

j Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. predicted to have levels o f depression eomparabfeto those o f iiufivufaals who are low in

Western identity. l^vehafW estem identity would be expected to affect depression only

among those low in Asian identity.

Lew Asian D Avg. Asian D High Asian ID

Low High ARSMA-lf Western ID Score

Figure I. Predicted Depression (CES-D) Scores o f Asian American US Citizens and Fesmanent Residents as a Function o f Acculturation

Parental AcculturatioaKsBSSSBSCSS

The above analyses demonstrate that the acculturation levels o f tfae participants are

associated w ith levels o f both depression and social anxiety, fat general, tbe moce an

individual identifies w ith Western culture and the less he or she identifies with Asian

culture; tfae fewer symptoms o f depression and social avoidance he or she reports. One

explanation for such fadings ^ that more acculturatcd Asan Americans experience less

conflict between themselves and tfae dominant cnfamcL Sim ilarly; lower levels o f conflict

between oneself and one’s fam ily may also be associated w ith lower levels o f emotional

distress^ Participants* perceptions o ftb eir patents* acculturation levels were thus

131

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. wwrntw^ fpnnWtnwplnn» aivnhiiiatinn ami mmlinnal j|t j^ nwW foii^wft

Ap m ^ n r d y IK f.iti>ww aixt pptmanwit iwiitwrf« gyB inrtutwj m ftiy filltnamg anafy^pf

Two parental accuftnration scores were obtaared from participants’ ratings o f their

parents* level o f Western and Asan identification. These two scores (perceptions o f

parents* Western and Asian identification) were then correlated w ith tbe emotional distress

measures (see Table 25). Consistent with other research (Aldwin&Greenberger, 1987)

Knifing pfln»»«ifal w iihnratim trt fympfnm* fif ifqifwtinn partifipantt in the fiinwtf omplft

who perceive their parents as beu^ more Western endorse fewer symptoms o f depression

than participants who perceive th e ir parents as being less W estern ( r =-2 1 , p =.05; see

Table 25). Parents' Asian identification is uncorrelated with depression (r = . 16, ns>.

Neither Western nor Asian parental identification is correlated w ith social avoidance (r = -

. 11 and .08. n&. respectively) or fear o f negative evaluation (r = -.0 4 and. 12. pgr

respectively)^

Family Conflict

Fam ily Conflic t Parental Acculturation, and Depression

One explanation for tbe link between higher acculturation and lower levels o f

emotional distress that was offered above was that individuals w ith higher acculturation

may experience less conflict between themselves and dominant culture The same may be

true lo r the relationship between parental acculturation and depression; that is, that the

lower levels o f depression among participants who perceive their parents to be more

accuitnratod ate dire to less conflict between oneselfand one** fam ily. I fsow then fam ily

conflict should be related to both parental acculturation and depression. Specifically, lower

levels ofparental acculturation should be associated w ith higher teveb o ffam ily conffict.

Higher levels o f fam ily conflict m turn; should be related to higher levels o f depcesshnL 132

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. limKng f?n*>t(f»yti»btinn«htp,liHw M« p i^ntal awnl^iintinn anitfiiailyfwrfliff

it was faypothcsisedtfaa t participants with less acculturated parents (L e , parents w ith higher

Western identification, lower A ron identification) would report that fam ily conflict was

both more likely and more serious than participants with more accultraatcd parents. As

sees in T a b le25. patents’ Western identification is negatively correlated w ife both tfae

likelihood o f fam ily conflict (FCS-Likelihood scores; r —-J 9 , g < .01) and seriousness o f

fam ily conflict {FCS-Scriousncss scores; r= -2 6 , p < . 05), while parents’ Asian

identification is positively correlated with both the likelihood (r = .55, g < .001) and

seriousness (r s .47, g < .001) o f fam ily conflict Thus, as expected, as parental

awnilhiratinn iwfrMPt femily cflnflift

looking next at the relationship between fam ily conflict and depression, it was

expected that as fam ily conflict increases; levels o f depression would also increase: As

seen in Table25, CES-D scores are positively correlated with FCS-Likclihood (r = 3 2 , g <

.01) and Seriousness (r = .42, g < .001) scores. Thus, as fam ily conflict becomes more

likely and more serious, symptoms o f depression increase; Table 25 also shows tfaat as

fam ily conflict increases, social anxiety also increases. Likelihood o f fam ily conflict is

associated with increased social avoidance (r = 2 4 , g < .05) and fear o f negative evaluation

( r = .22, p < .0$). Seriousness o f fam ily conflict is associated with increased social

acvoidance(r=. 42, g < .001) and fe a r o f negative evaluation ( r =32, g<.01X

The above cosrehtional analyses indicate that as parental acculturation increases,

fam ily conflict decreases, and, in turn, depression and social anxiety among the children

acculturation and depression. To test this, a hierarchical regression w ith CES-D scores as

tfaedcpcndcnt variable was conducted. FCS Likelihood and Seriousness scores were 133 .

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. averaged to create a single fam ily conflict score, which was entered instep 1 o fthe

regression A umdimensiaiiai parental acculturation score was computed by reverse-

scoring fee parents* Asian identification score and averaging w ife fee parents* Western

identification score. This yielded a single score ranging from 1 to 5, with higher scores

nuBfahng l^ fr awnlhiBitinn Ttik iinirfiwv»ngfrtnat j^iltm atinii yyt

catered in the second step. It was expected that the fam ily conflict score would account for

a significant amount o f variance in CES-D scores, but that once this variance was

accounted fo r, parental acculturation would not account for a significant increase in

variance. As seen in Table 27, these predictions are supported. Instep 1,FCS scores

account fe rn significant amount o f variance in CES-D scores (R .*- .15, p = .001^ but

parental acculturation does not account for a significant increase in variance in step 2 (AR2

= .005, gg). Finally, a Sobel test (MacKinnon & Dwyer, 1993; Sobel, 1982) is significant

(test statistic = 2.43, g < .05), farther supporting the assertion that family conflict mediates

fee relationship between parental acculturation and depression.

Family conflict and S ^ fi^ -repancv

ft was originally hypothesized that if this fam ily conflict represents an underlying

conflict in values between less acculturated parents and more acculturated children, then

fees conflict could be conceived in terms o f sel£discrepancy (Le^ fee more accuhuraled

child’s values being discrepant from the more traditional values o f his or her parents.) I fso,

then ortre self-discrepancies should be correlated with fam ily cooflict scores among those

participauts who indicated a parent, step-parent or grandparent as their most significant

other. Among fee US cxdzen and permanent resident Asian Americans, 63.7% chose a

parent (n = 19 for father, n = 37 for mother), step-parent (n = 1), or grandparent (n = l)a s

their mmf significant other (compared to only 49.7% o f Eutopcan Americans). The 134 j j

i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ideal-other, Ought-other, and Undesired-other self discrepancy scores fo r these Asian

American participants were averaged to yield a single Other sclfdiscrepaiicy score, which

was then correlated with fam ily conflict scores.

Contrary to expectation, however. Other sclfdiscrepancics ate not correlated with

cither likelihood (r = .0 7 , fg ) or seriousness (r = .08, {g) o f fam ily conflict. This suggests

that fam ily conflict is not based on whether or not children are meeting the standards they

perceive their parents to hold for them. Interestingly, likelihoodof fam ily conflict g

significantly correlated w ith other sclfdiscrepancics among those participants who

indicated someone other than a fam ily member as their most significant other (r = .4 0 , g <

.05). In other words, the more the children are failing to meet the standards they perceive

someone outside the fam ily holds for them, the more conflict they experience w ithin the

fam ily. This may simply represent a heightened level o f general conflict in the lives o f

these partir>ipant«

Summary of differences

Participants w ith stronger Asian identifications endorse more symptoms o f

depression and social avoidance; while those with strongerWestern identifications endorse

fewer symptoms o f depression. Among bicuhural individuals, the effects o f high Asian

identity seem to outweigh those o fa high Western identity, leading to levels o fdepression

sim ilar to those fa r individuals who are low mWestern identity.

In addition to finding that an individuaTs own level o f accultnration is relatedto

levels o f depression, parental acculturation was also found to be related to levels o f

depression. Specifically, participants who perceive their parents to be more Western

endorse fewer symptoms o f depression. However, it was also shown that fam ily conflict is

bothm orelikcly and more serious in fam ilies in which the parents are less accukuratcd, 135

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and tbat tins fam ily conflict mediates the relationship between parental accaitmatkxt and

depression, fa addition, increasing fam ily conflict is also associated with increasing

symptoms o f social anxiety. Finally, this fam ily conflict was not found to represent an

underiying discrepancy between the children’s actual selves and tfae standards tbey

perceive their parents to bold fa r them.

1 36

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 6

DISCUSSION

The results ofthe current study clearly indicate that cultural differences in the self

between Asian/Asian Americans and European Americans have important implications

for the ways in which emotional distress is conceptualized and treated. By integrating

cross-cultural conceptions o f the self (c.g., Marfcus&Kitayama, 1991) w ith the concepts o f

s e lf discrepancy (Higgins, 1987) and optimism and pessimism, the current study has

broadened our understanding o f more culturally appropriate approaches to treating

emntinnal rfktresgamonghrrfh Fnmp«m Am wieantiinitA m n /A m m A m w iw iK

As expected, important differences between groups in the relationship between the

various types ofseif-discrepancy and depression and social anxiety were found. Consistent

with Higgins’ (1987) sei&fiscrepancy theory, ought sei£

uniquely important predictors o f social anxiety for European Americans, w hile ideal self

discrepancies were better predictors o f depression. However, because ideal self-

discrepancy was also a significant predictor o f social anxiety among this group, results did

a rt fh% support the predictions ofseif-discrepancy theocy regarding thediscrimiBant

vaficfity o f ideal selfrfirerepancy.

These firahngs are the opposite o f those o f Bruch, Rivet, and iam eati (2000), who

137

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. measures and unrelated to measures afainriiety>whOeoughi^oth8Fscl£'discrepsiic£es were

unrelated to measures o f anxiety but were related to a measure o f depression. However,

Bruch e ta l. used measures o f anxiety that emphasized physical symptoms, which they

note are less likely to be experienced among those with tower levels o f anxiety. Further,

measures o f emotional distress were completed at the same tune as the self-discrepancy

measure, which likely biased the results. Higgins (1987,1999) noted that the magnitude;

accessibility, relevance, and importance o f various sclf-discrepancics determine their

impact on emotional distress. Completing the self-discrepancy measure almost certainly

increased theaccessibility o f selfdiscrepancies for the participants. Farther, ideal seif-

dacrepancies were found to be slightly higher among European American participants in

the current study. Ifth is was also true for the participants in Bruch e ta l.’s study, then ideal

seif-discrepancies would be expected to be more salient* and therefore better predictors o f

em otional

In addition to ideal and ought sclfdiscrepancics, the current study also included a

measure o f undesired selfdiscrepancy. Among European Americans, undesired self-

discrepancy emerged as an important predictor ofdepressioa, as expected, even after

controlling for ought and ideal sclfdiscrepancics. This finding is consistent with recent

research (Carver, Lawrence, & Scheier, 1999) that found distance from the feared s e lf

which is conceptually identica l to the undcsired self is a significant predictor o f

depressioo. Although undesired self-discrepancy was significantly correlated with social

amdetym the current study, it was, contrary to expectation, not a significant predictor o f

This finding appears to be inconsisteat with those o f Career etaL (1999); who

found that distance from the feared selfwasasign ificant predictor o f anxiety after IS

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. controlling fix ’ ideal and ought self-discrepancies. Perhaps the difference in findings is due

to the different measures ofanxiety used. Carver ct a t used measures that assessed how

often participants experienced particular feelings o f agitation (e.g ., anxious, afhud), gnift

(e.g^, ashamed, regretfiriX and contentment (considered the opposite o f anxiety; e-g^catm,

satisfied). The current study assessed the more specific domain o f social anxiety, which

involves different types o f items, fewer ofwhich relate to agftaticin and physiological

arousal.

Taken together, the findings regarding self-discrepancy from the current study

suggest that, for European Americans, conceptualizing social anxiety as stemming from a

failure to fu lfill one's sense o f duty or meet one's moral standards is appropriate, wfaile

conceptualiz ing depression as stemming from a failure to meet one’s ideals may be lim ited,

fa understanding depression among European Americans, it is important not only to

consider whether they are failing to attain ideal attributes, but also whether they are

avoiding undesired attributes.

For the Asian / Asian Americans, however, the results regarding self-discrepancy

soggcst that am ent conceptualizations o f both depression and social anxiety in terms o f

Higgins’' (1987) sdfdiscrcpancy theory may be lim ited by their failure to consider

implications o f more collectivist or interdependent conceptions o f the self. Higgins*

predictions regarding the relationship between self-discrepancy and unique types o f

emotional distress were supported for neither ought nor ideal selFdiscrapaiicy among

A sian/ Asian Americans Ideal selfdiscrepancy, in feet, was related to emotional distress

faawayflBBfiBteto that predicted by Higgins: Among Asian/Asian Americans; ideal

s e lf discrepancy was unconcfated with depression and positively correlated w ith social

a n xiety. 139

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. One possible explanation fo r this failure to find the expected discriminant validity

ofideat and ought s e lf discrepancies is that they may simply be less distinct fibr Asian

American* than for European Americans. The high correlations between ideal and ought

selfdtscrepancies among the Asian/Asian Americans, combined with the failure to find

rignifican& partial correlations, even among participants who reported little or no difficulty

in undemanding the difference between the two selves or among participants who

gcncratcdlargety distinct lists o f attributes for the two selves, are consistent with this

possibility. In other words, the types o f attributes that Asian/Asian Americans aspire

ideally to possess may be more sim ilar to the types o f attributes they feel they should or are

m orally obligated to possess than for European Americans For example; while a European

American student may fed he or she should be a “good” student, and aspire to be a

straight-A student an Asian American might feel he or she should he a straight-A student.

Comparison o f the actual words uscdby the Asian/Asian Americans and European

Americans to describe the ought and ideal selves would allow investigation o f this

possibility.

A second possibility is that Asian Americans have different expectations regarding

the consequences ofholding ideal and ought sclfdiscrepancics. “Selfdiscrepancy theory

postulates that the relation between s e lf discrepancies and emotions is stronger when

individuals believe that possessing discrepancies has important consequences (Higgins,

19*7,1989). Qoe kind afbefiefabout important consequences is individuals’ beliefs about

parental responses to their failures to meet their ideals or oughts,” (Higgins, 1999, pp.

1315-1316). Results o f studies (with presumably non-Asian American participants) found

that beliefs in the negative coosequences o f ideal selfdiscrepancies tended to be more

related to dej ection-related emotions, while beliefs in the negative consequences o f ought 140

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. self-discrepancies were nmre related to agitation-related emotions* Further; those who both

had high ideal sclfdiscrepancics affil strong beliefs about the negative consequences ofan

ideal seiftfiicrepancy demonstrated the strongest relationship between ideal self-

discrepancy and depression. Perhaps Asian Americans associate the consequences o f both

ideal and ought sclfdiscrepancics more w ith agitation-related emotions than with

Both o f these explanations intimate that, ideal and ougfrt selves are less distinct for

Asian Americans than fo r European Americans, cither in content or consequence, lia s is

consistent w ith the hypothesis that the self as a highly differentiated construct is less

meaningful for individuals from more collectivist cultures. Markus and Kitayama (1991)

describe interdependence as a more flu id, flexible, “cnscmblcd” and “connected” sense o f

self (p. 227). This suggests that different facets o f the self (such as ideal or ought) are

indeed likely to be more connected and therefore less distinct fo r those high in

interdependence than for those high in independence.

In addition, although selfdiscrepancies from, the standpoint o f significant otfaere

were assessed in the current study, it is possible that reliance on rating the extent to which

one actually possesses those attributes s till reflects an emphasis on the individual self that

is less appropriate for those w ilit a more interdependent construal o fthe s e lf Even with

(or thought they should or should not possess), participants had to rate the extent to which

they, as separate indivuhals, actually possessed these traits. These ratings were indicated

for the self irrespective o f context. Markus and Ktayama note that, those with an

interdependent self are less Bkely to organize knowledge about th e‘self in general*...

Specific social situations are more likely to serve as the unit o f representation than are 141

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. attributes o fseparate persons7* (p . 232). Thus, requiring participants to describe themselves

without reference to social context may be less valid fo r highfy interdependent individuals.

Supporting this, Cbeang (1997) found that selfdiscrepancies in tenns o fa “salient role"

(c.g^ self in role o f son/daughter) were better predictors o f depression than self

discrepancies in terms o f a general s e lf

Farther evidence tbat selfdiscrepancy theory provides lim ited conceptualizations

o f emotional distress fo r Asian Americans comes from the findings regarding the undesired

self a domain o f the self not included in Higgins* (1987) original theory. In the current

study, undcsjrcd self-discrepancy is a significant predictor o fboth depression and social

avoidance among Asian/Asian Americans, even after controlling for ideal and ought self-

discrepancies. Ia other words, consistent with both previous research (Cheung. 1997) and

the hypotheses o f the current study, failure to avoid the undesired self is a uniquely

important fcgtor nufcpregrinn and gnriat avnufam* far Asian / A«ian Amwi«n« Th.i«

counselors are likely to miss important factors contributing to an Asian American client’s

symptoms when they only focus on whether the client is failing to attain ideals or meet

obligatory standards and neglect to consider whether the client is avoiding undesiied

attributes.

Surprisingly, there was no support for the hypothesis that undesired self-

discrepancy would ben strongerprerfictor ofdepression and social amricty among Am en/

Asian American* w ith higher Asian identities-In fact, the opposite was found: undcsired

sdfdhctepancies were stronger ptedfctog o femotional distress among those w ith lower

levels o f Asian identification. There are two possible explanations fo r these findings- One

is that at higher levels ofAsian identification, some other factor, such as increased vafecs

conflict wrfh dnminanT inltng n r inrrawrf Klr^l.Tnwl nf »fw tar^« nf

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. « » p^Hirfnr^ifpn^intinl than mutxii^ yHw|i5rffpanfy Thtfertlhf- <■

y q|l^|p iffpntmnn ?ivl «yql m yi^y«4 ^ ta«tfa*

Inm ram ilhiratinn ^ y lf jf ^ pA % fp f ftf Mwj*innat

particularly associated with increased risk for emotional distress;Western identification

was associated w ith levels o f depression only fo r those low nt Asian identity. Although the

current results would seem to suggest that hire itoiralhm is associated with higher risk for

emotional (fistress* it is important to note that this inference comes fiom predicted

depression scores based on regression analyses w ith the canrcnt sample. The actoai number

o f bicultural individuals in foe cunent sample was too small to explore differences within

this group.

A second explanation for the finding? that undesired selfdiscrepancy is a stronger

predictor o f emotional distress among those lower in Asian identity is that as Asian ideality

increases, the relevance o f the self decreases. As discussed above, the concept o f the

individual, highly differentiated self, separate fiom social context, appears to be less

relevant to tinse fiom more coKectivisttc cultures (Maifcus&fQtayama, 1991). Thus, the

undesired domain ofthe self may be less differentiated fiom other domains ofthe self

among those stronger io Asian identification.

Either explanation, however, suggests that for Asian Americans who are higher in

Asian identity, setfcfisaepancy is likely to be less relevant to conceptualizations o f

depression and social anxiety than an understanding ofothcr factors, such as the stresses

faccdby the individual as a result o f living within a. culture that is different than his or her

own. In addition, the results aftbecurreot study indicate that understanding acculturation

in the client’s broader fam ily system may be useful in understanding other sources o f

con flict. Asian American students whose parents had lower levels o f acculturation were

i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. more likely to report: higher levels o ffam ily conflict, and, subsequently, higher levels o f

depression. Given this important link between fam ily conflict and depression assessing the

appropriatcncssof a fam ily systems approach to treatment is likely to be useful. fa

addition, given that the results oftfac current study were based on participants' perceptions

levels ofacculturatioii, assessing the appropriateness oftfaese perceptions

could also be useful.

In addition to the findings that self-discrepancy may be a weaker predictor o f

depression fo r less acculturated Asian Americans, self discrepancy was not related at a ll

among the total Asian/Asian American sample to one component ofsocial anxiety, fear o f

negative evaluation. Sclf-constnial, however, did emerge as an important predictor o f fear

o f negative evaluation, as w ell as social avoidance, among both Asian / Asian Americans

and European Americans. Consistent with previous research (Okazaki, 1997) higher levels

o f interdependence were associated with greater fear o f negative evaluation, while lower

leral* rtf inAywtmr-fe v im t arenriatrei with le« fear nfnggafiv^ evaluation anrf

avnufaneg fin/en that an important distinction between independence and ;ntw«l»p«ufaiw

is the extent to which one sees the self as separate &om or part o f the social context

(Markus & Kitayama. 199IX it makes sense that differences in social anxiety would be

associated with differences in self^onstruaL

Farther; between-groups differences in sefFcaastiual tikety account fin the

betweengroups differences in social anxiety found in the current study. As expected;

Asian / Asian Americans endorsed significantly higher levels o f social avoidance than foe

European Americans. Asian / Asian Americans were abo more mterdependent and less

independent thaathc European Americans. Empirical studies (seeHardin ctal^. 2001) have

consHtentiy supported the theoretical prediction (Markus &Kitaya»na, 1991) that Asian 144

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A m m r ii n t n e t auw ag^ mnrp fntMTfapwirfwit tfliffl AmfftBHf Rwfc Cniimgt

fmmhmwt mitk th^ t»Uar lybtimwlifp f^pfflndnial and yyiql amvMly femnf

previously and replicated here, highlight the importance o f routinely assessing social

anxiety’ among Asian American clients.

Interestingly, results did not support the predictions regarding fee relationship

between sdf-constroai and s e lfdiscrepancy. It was expected that discrepancies from the

individual selfs standards (Own self discrepancies) would be more predictive o f

depression and social anxiety among those higher ht independence; while discrepancies

fiom the standards a f a significant other (Other selfdiscrepancies) would be more

predictive o f emotional distress among those higher nr interdependence. However; s e lf

constnial did not moderate the relationship between self-discrepancy and distress. This

finding may be due to high sim ilarity between the types o f attributes listed fo r Own and

f k t u r rtanHpninlf o n tV? n r tr> limitafiftn* |l^ itsfttf

Hardin ctaL (2001) summarized inconsistencies in results in thelitcraturc using

the SelfCoastnial Scale (SCS; Singclis, 1994X and provided evidence that independence

and interdependence may be multi-dimensional constructs not fu lly captured by the SCS.

Hxaminatiop o f the subscales tentatively identified by Hardin et a t did suggest that these

m ultiple dimensions may provide a. dearer picture ofthetcfalionshfr between s e lf

discrepancy, sclf-coostroal, and distress. Specifically, fix European American participants

higher in Primacy o f Self; who are more fikeiy to agreewith statements sucft as, *1 do what

is best fe e m e, regardless o fh o w th a t m ight affect others,” O w n s c lfd iscrepancics were

stronger pretfictors o f social avoidance than fo r European Americans lower in Primacy o f

S elf Given that a recent study (Gonnerman, Parker, Lavine, & H h£t2000) did find

support for the prediction that Other sclfdiscrepancics arc more predictive o f depression

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and anxiety for those who are more concerned with the evaluations o f others (in this case,

higher in sei£mouitaring) and Own selTdiscrepanries are more predictive for those who

arelcssconccrncd with the evaluations o f others (i.e ., lower in sclf-monitoringX the current

findings may indeed reflect limitations in the seif-construal measure used.

The findings regarding optimism and pessimism seem to provide the greatest

insight into how we can use cross-cultural conceptions o f the self to enhance our

imHfwtanHing anH tnpatmynt p f (fepffwinn anH y y jy l amripfy amnng hr^|i F»irap^»n

Americans and Asian Americans, Consistent with previous research (Chang. 19% ), A sian/

Asian Americans were significantly more pessimistic, but no less optim istic, than

European Americans. Im portantly, however, despite the strong correlation between

pessimism and depression, Asian/Asian Americans were not significantly more depressed

dan European Americans. Further, for Asian/Asian Americans, but not European

Americans, lack o f optimism emerged as a significant predictor o f depression and social

anxiety, even after controlling for pessimism.

Together, these results highlight the important role played by optimism in affecting

emotional distress among Asian Americans. As argued by Chang (1996,2001), pessimism

appears to be less detrimental for Asian Americans than for European Americans. Rather

than assuming that high levels o f pessimism are inherently bad fo r Asian Americans,

results such as these suggest that counselors may need to revise their understanding o f

pessimism. For example, based on evidence that European American students im plicitly

associate pessimism with depression (Helwcg-Lat3en,Sadcghian,&Webb, 1999, cited in

rhanft MM), fhang (3001) fax ««mwi nf Hv- ifangar nffw .nolnn WghtPgwH

pessimism fo r asymptom o f depression among Asian Americans Sumfarfy, Chang (1996)

146

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. pmwiMfcrf eiiirfewcg tliat iriiite peasimwm lenA tr* * «etlnr*inn fi» pmMem-«*hnng hrfwvinr

among European Americans, it leads to an increase in such bebnrior among Asura

Am ericans.

T ic growing body o f literature on cultuial differences in pessimism suggests that

the tenn pessimism itself mav be culturally biased. Note that prior to Markus and

Kitayama’s seminal paper oa self-constxual (199IX researchers assumed there was o n ly

one alternative to independence; and inappropriately applied the label “dependent” to

Asian Americans and others who appeared to lack independence (see Hardin, Leong. &

Osipow, 2001; Leon& 1991). Sim ilarly, the tenn pessimism may be being used

pfjnrativrly to describe what L« empty a different, fait enltiiraKy appmpiafft personality

style that has yet to be fully understood.

Culturally appropriate may be interpreted in two ways. First, pessimism may be

more culturally appropriate in that it realistically reflects the obstacles to success that are

more likely fo r minorities and immigrants in the US (see Fitzgerald & Betz, 1994; Leong,

1993; Leoog & Hardin, in press, for discussions o f these obstacles as they relate to career

opportunity and choice foe m inorities). Second, pessimism may be more “culturally

appropriate” for Asian Americans in that it simply reflects what Cheung (1997) has

described as a bdicfcommon to many Asian cultures that, “when the job is done, the

rewards are uncertain; if it is not done right, punishments are imminent,” (p . 350). Thus,

among Asian Americans who hold this bdic£ pessimism may not be indicative o f

hopelessness, fan* rathern f a baric belief that i t aua n fa are nor iM ra « a n T y

also Chang. 2001).

Among Asian Americans, this tra it pcssunisin may be sim ilar to the construct o f

defensive pessimism (Norcra &. Cantor, 1986a, 1986b). Defensive pessimism is a

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. cognitive strategy used to decrease domain-specific anxiety by both lowering one’s

expectations fo r success and allowing one to prepare for possible negative situations that

could impede success (Norcm, 200IX In her summary o f research on defensive

psessuniism, Notem (20Q I) notes feat defensive pessimism is a response to anxiety and

leads to problem-solving behavior, both o f which are consistem w ith research showing that

Asian Americans tend to have higher levels o f anxiety (e.g., Okazaki, 199*7), and that

I m b Amwifan* hi^li m pwfimiyn BigigB jft Mm^Ofttliin

European Americans high in pessimism (Chang, 1996). Thus, the concept o f defensive

ptm 'm Km among A«ian

As suggested by Chang (1996,2001), counselors who attempt to treat depression

by decreasing pessimism may be using an appropriate intervention fo r European

Americans, but not for Asian Americans, In the context o f the above discussion, the

findings o f this and other studies (e .g , Chang, 1996) suggest that attempting to treat

depression or social anxiety by directly decreasing pessimism is likely to be less effective

than increasing optimism for three reasons: (1 ) because it ignores the important

relationship between lack o f optimism and emotional distress, (2 ) because pessimism may

reflect adapting defcnm/g peggwnf«mamf lyifeeM m igfiw im im m A«tmA m w j m

one could conceivably take away a major source afm otivatk» that is related to adaptive

and engaged coping behaviors such as problem solving,”' (Chang, 1996, p. 121Xand(3)

because o f the potential damage to the therapeutic retafinnship caused by the counselors

feihiretoconsider the realistic basis for an Asian American client’s pessimism. The current

findings suggest that by focusing on increasing optimism, counselors can both

148

•<* ....tf'!-1- * . •*. -L ■*“ V:. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. icfcHfflvM glf barriCTT to yw*r*^T *^gt may fa ff ^lif ir A ^jjn Amwiran fliw itt

due to th eir minority or mmujgront status w hile at the same tim e effectively intervening to

reduce symptoms o f depression and / or social anxiety.

In addition, the current study suggests a coacreie way by which counselors might

be able to increase optimism, or decrease pessimism among both Asian Americans and

European Americans: by helping clients change their sei£dtscrcpancies. Both optimism

and pessimism were found to be at least partial mediators o f the relationship between self-

discrepancy and emotional distress for both Asian/Asian Americans and European

Americans. Combined with the results regarding the differential relationships between self

discrepancy and emotional distress, this suggests tbat decreasing undesired seif*

discrepancies may lead to subsequent increases in optimism and culturally appropriate

decreases in pessimism, which may in turn lead to decreases in depression fo r both Asian

Americans and European Americans, and decreases in social anxiety fo r European

Americans. For European Americans, the additional focus on decreasing idcaland ought

sclf-discrepancics may lead to farther decreases in pessimism and subsequent decreases in

depression (ideal seif-discrepancy) and social anxiety (ought self-discrepancy).

&BB9UnBBBU8SUSH&SBB&BiaEFntmg Beiearrh an/t T imitatifuw

Whether changes in self discrepancy do in fact cause changes in levels o f

optimism and pessimism is an empirical question that should be examined in future

research For example, levels afoptimism and pessimism could be assessed before and

afler manipulating sclf-discrepancics through priming or false feedback. Such laboratory

m A hW manipihtirg r-aii irm«>mtww j i w #

temporary changes m levels o f optim ism and pessimism, which would Fend support to the

149

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. hypf^fi^yjiy tfiat Bflfp fntwfantiuy pfangff TrfPdisrrrpanry ayhfcvwi ^mwrfihg

«n

Other indirect evidence fo r both the nature o f the relationship between sef£>

pmntinieil a m inptimwm / p^wimiqn anrf the Jiflewatk l impnitmw

nfthgdiffert^ typ^nf«g^<»i«rrgpanryto Asian Americans anrf Rimp«mA m t - r ir a n*

etmld enmfc ftnm nutenmt; «iirf»gg in rfrnieai settings Pnr mrampfg rtumts ifiggnmmtt arith

depression or soda! anxiety could complete measures o f sef&fiscrepancy, optimism /

pessimism, and symptom reports at the beginning and end o f treatment. Correlates o f

successful outcome ia each group could then be investigated. For example, are more

successful outcomes associated with greater changes in optimism and pessimism than less

successful outcomes? Is successful treatment for Asian Americans mote associated w ith a

reduction in undcsircd self-discrepancies than for European Americans? A re reductions in

self-discrepancy due to clients perceiving themselves as being less discrepant front their

standards, or actually gt^wfarri*^

Examining the actual attributes used to describe the various self-guides could

provide important information in other ways. As suggested above, it would allow

investigation ofwfacthcr the content o fthe ideal and ought selves is less distinct for Asian

Americans than for European Americans. It would also allow investigation o f possible

reasons why, in the current study, Asian/Asian Americans were found to have higher sd f-

discrepancies than the European Americans on five o f the she types o f sci&fiscrepancy

measured. This could be became Asian Americans have different standards. For example;

jf Rnopcan Americans ate mote likely to Bst attributes such as“Smart” while Asam

Americans ate more Bkefr to Bst attributes such as “Garins;" then it would not be

surprising to find that Asian Americans ate less Bfccfytofed they are meeting these 150

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. standards. Alternatively, higher se&discrepancks may simply reflect a greater tendency

fcr selEeffacqncnt (Heine &. liftm an , 199S;Hcine, T-chman, Markus, & Kitayama, I999)>

Asian American* may be no more discrepant from their scl£guides than European

Americans, they may smapty be moss bumble m their assessment o f their actual selves.

This raises the important question ofwhetber the information research participants

indicate on sel&repoct measures matches the information that migbt be obtained through

other means. Sue, Ino, and Sue (1983) discovered that on self-report measures, Asian

Americans appeared to be significantly less assertive than European Americans. However,

measures afactual behavior yielded no significant differences between groups. &tch

findings raise the important question o f whether the higher levels o f social anxiety among

Asian/Asian Americans indicated on sclfrepott measures such as the SAD reflect actual

differencesinbehaviororsunply differences in response styles. In other words, do Asian

Americans actually behave differently in social situations than European Americans?

The reliance on self-report measures is one iim itatioa o f the current study.

Although the results suggest important differences inseifdiscrepancy, sef£constiuaI»

anxiety, and pessimism bctwccn-groups, tbe behavioral correlates o f these differences are

unknown. Additional research tbat includes m ultiple ways o f assessing these coostracts is

needed, in light o f previous research has found a discrepancy between se&repoct and

behavioral measures fo r Asian Americans.

A. second obvious lim itation ofthc current study is the sample o p which these

results ate based. First, the sample included only college students Whether these resuhs

y u n l w p l f t In n Amwirant aivi Anwirifant nf rfiffwwif agM anrl w tvatinaal

feMAwmhu—B tfpnfingfanilyronffiftp 1^ ? !awiihnratinn

among Asian Anrericans arc particularly important to investigate among different gronps 151

I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ofindividnals. The relationship between fam ily conflict and depression may be stronger

among this college-aged group, which is more likely to be in the midst o fnegotiating

individuation, than among younger adolescents or adults.

A second lim itation o f tfie current sample was the broad heterogeneity ofthe Asian

/ Asian American participants. The gain in statistica l power achieved by collapsing specific

ethnic and national origin groups (e g , Chinese, Indian, Korean) into one“A sian/A rian

American’* group came a t the expense o f exploring important wrtfaut'group differences.

Recent research has identified differences in values between Arian cultural groups (Kim,

Atkinson, & Yang. 1999; Kim, Yang, W olfe, & Hoag, I999X highlighting the need for

researchers to explore the validity o f their findings for different groups. In addition, future

research that focuses on investigating differences in emotional distress and correlates o f

amnng b ty gmnp« nfhiniltm^l nypyulnah k nw iM

JUUUAHBBBP onptiwin n

Despite these lim itations, the current study does increase oar cultural knowledge o f

depression and social anxiety by integrating cross-cultural conceptions o f the s e lf (Markus

& Kitayama, 1991) with other important constructs, This increased cultural knowledge

provides several important insights into mays to improve our conceptualization o f

depression and social anxiety fo r both European Americans and Asian Americans, and

thereby to improve treatment.

First, while focusing on helping clients attain success may be appropriate for

European Americans, it is also represents a lim ited conceptualization o f depression fo r tins

group andakas culturally appropriate approach for Asian Americans Focusing on helping

clients avoid fiulnre by mcbufoig the concept qftbenndesitedselfislikeiytoenbance

counselors’' understanding ofdcpressioa among both Asian Americans and European 152

; . fc lr' s '■.. . ' Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Americans. In addition, focusing on whether clients ate meeting tfic ir obligatory or moral

standards appears to represent a lim ited conceptnaliTafioaofsocial anxiety fo r both groups;.

For Asian Americans, the concept o f the undcsired self is again likely to enhance

understanding o f social anxiety, while for EuropcaaAmericans, the ideal ic if also appears

Second, decreasing pessimism may be an appropriate intervention strategy for

decrenring depression and social anxiety among European Americans, but does not appear

to be die most culturally appropriate intervention strategy for Asian Americans. Faihue to

consider levels o f optimism among tb it group could lead to assumptions about an Arian

American’s level o f fimctioning based oo a culturally biased understanding o f pessimism.

Further, focusing on decreasing pessimism could threaten the therapeutic alliance by

ignoring realistic bases o f pessimism. Thus, assessing and increasing levels o f optimism

instead a fo r in addition to decreasing pessimism appears to be a more culturally

appropriate intervention strategy.

Third, the current study suggests that a culturally appropriate and concrete way to

affect levels o f optimism and pessimism among both European Americans and Asian

American* may he hy decreasing gdfcdigerepaneiieg Fnmrnig m Mmttfying the pattinibr

attributes the client fcds he or she is failing tocmbody (or avoid), challenging the reality

ofthe discrepancy its e lf or the validity o f the standard, and identifying other unpostant

attributes toe client is attaining/avoidinfc. as vrett as stntcgjto fo r decreasing ifisacpancics

fiom other attributes, may prove to be useful tools in decreasing emotional distress. This

decrease may occur directly, as w ell as indirectly, by affecting levels o f optimism and

15}

Reproduced with permission ofthe copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Fourth, the higher levels o f social anxiety endorsed by tbe Asian / Asian American

participants in the current sample; combined with the link between sclfconstrual and social

anxiety and the established differences in sdf-cocstrual between Asian and European

Americans, o p average, highlights tbe importance o f rootineiy assessing levels o f social

anxictyamong Asian American clients. Particularly given the risk that higher levels o f

pessimism may be mistaken fo r higher levels o f depression (Chang, 2001), counselors who

do not exp licitiy assess social anxiety may find themselves treatingthcwrocg problem;

that is, depression instead o f anxiety.

Finally, the cunent study reminds counselors o f the importance o fassessing

accufturationwhen working w ith Asian American clients. For clients higher in Asian

identity, iactors other than self-discrepancy, such as cultural conflict, are likely to be more

important in conceptualizing emotional distress. Further, by exploring the acculturation

levels o f a cheat*s parents, the counsetor can glean important information about other

potential sources o fconflict that may be contributing to tbe client’s symptoms o f emotional

distress.

The goal o f this study was to increase our cultural knowledge o f depression and

social anxiety by integrating cross-cuftura! conceptions ofthe self (Markus & Kitayama,

1991) with Higgins’ self-discrepancy theory (19S7) and tbe concepts o f optimism aid

pessimism. In doing so, tbe results ofthe current study have suggested ways in which

depression and social anxiety; determine mote culturally appropriate treatment goals; and

implement more culturally appropriate interventions. This knowledge enhances our ability

to woric more effectively wdh both European American and Asian American individuals

and ensures that the mental health system is better able to meet the needsafaB its cheats. 154

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Tables

164

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...... SAD) M(SB) 99.20(24.37) 99.05(20.14) Social Anxiety Social 108.93(21.82) 110,69(19.04) 109.80(20,45) ...... (Combined FNE(Combined and .. ww - ~ wm ,91 SAD M (£ 0 ) a Social Anxiety Measures Anxiety Social 65.01 (16.98) 63.61 (19.03) 73.91 (16,04) 72.88(16.83) 74,96(15.22) a wm wm - ** .89 64.05(18.25) .94 99.03(22,80) FNE MISO) 34,98(9.22) 34.04(7.95) 35,72(8.32), 35.59(9.94) 36.05(9.04) - wm - wm .90 .89 35.89(8.67) ,87 CES-D 16,74(9.82) Depression Measure 15.31 (10.58) 15.49(10.95) 17.15(10.43) 17,55(11.04) 73 75 73 15.17(10.02) N a 193 148 119 Women Men Men Women Group total European American sample. American total European EuropeanAmericans AsianAmericans Note. One European American participant did not indicate gender, so the number o f Men and Women does not equal the number inthe number the equal not does Women o and Men f number the so gender, did indicate not participant American Note. European One Table 1. Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for the depression and social anxiety measures, by ethnicity and gender, ethnicity and by measures, anxiety social and reliabilities scale for depression and the deviations, Table standard 1. Means, Si

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Table 2; Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for the self-discrepancy measures, by ethnicity and gender. Source Dependent variable £ E QtknUkaCOHNmOt IdeaKDther t 7.25“ Ideal-Own t 3.71 OughtOther 1 2127*“ OughtOwn 1 22.38“ * UndeskedOther t 13.92*** UndeskedOwn 1 9.37“ Gender IdealOther t 1.09 Ideal-Own t 2L97 OugtdOther t 0.03 OughtOwn 1 0.68 UndeskedOther 1 3.65 UndeskedOwn t 199* Ethnicity x Ideal-Other 1 136* Gender IdealOwn 1 <0.001 OughtOther 1 108 OughtOwn 1 1.74 Undesired-Other 1 0.30 Undesked-Own 1 .90 Error Ideal-Other 335 (-68) IdealOwn 335 (.72) OughtOther 335 (-57) OughtOwn 335 (.52) UndeskedOther 335 (.46) UndeskedOwn 335 (43) Note. Values enclosed in parentheses* represent mean square errors.

•fe<.OS; **b < 01; ***2< 001

Table 3: Analysis o fvariance for setfdiscrepancy

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Group Variable B SEB 6 AR2 Asian Americans Slept Constant to s t £89 Ought SO 2.64 1.15 .189* .035* Step 2 Constant 10.31 £29 Ought SO £26 1.64 .160 .001 [deal SO .50 1.56 .037 Step 3 Constant 5.31 3.62 Ought SO 1.31 1.63 .093 .056“ (deat SO M 1.52 .040 Undesired SO £74 126 245“ European Americans Slept Constant 11-28 £65 Ought SO 1.99 125 .114 .013 Step 2 Constant 8.01 £02 Ought SO .52 1.41 .030 .024“ Ideal SO £40 1.10 .177* Step 3 Constant £97 £25 Ought SO -123 1.45 -.071 .060— fafeatSD £35 1.06 .174* Undesired SO 5.34 t.50 266“ * *P<.OS; **fe<.OI; ***p<.QOI

Table 6 . Summary o f hierarchical regression analyses predicting depression (CES-D Scores) from Ought, Ideal Undesired sclf-discrcpancics.

170

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Grow Variable B SEB 0 Of? Asian Americans Step* Constant 9L05 2.47 Undesired SO 423 132 377'“ .077*“ Step 2 Constant 5.70 3.59 Undesired SO 334 134 358“ .010 Ideal SO 1.40 1.09 .104 Step 3 Constant 531 3.62 Undesired SO 3.74 136 345“ Ideal SO M 1.52 .040 .004 Ought SO 1.31 1.63 393 European Americans Slept Constant m 139 Undesired SO 5.47 1.40 373*“ .074“ * Step 2 Constant 6.15 195 Undesired SO 538 1.52 368“ * <.001 Ought SO 3 0 1.31 .012 Step 3 Constant 1 9 7 335 Undesired SO 534 1.50 366“ * Ought SO -133 1.45 -.071 .023* Ideal SO 235 1.06 .174* *&<.05; **fe<.Ql; ***p

Table 7. Summary o f hierarchical regressioa analyses predicting depression (CES-D Scores) from Undesired, Ideal and Ought sdfdiscrcpancics.

171

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fadeoendence Interdependence Gteup N M(§D) a M (§D) a

European Americans 192 4.06(.64) .73 3.61 (.60) .67

Women 118 3.98(.59) — 1 5 5 (3 2 ) —

Men 73 4.17 (.70) — 171 (.68) —

Asian Americans 148 3.93 (.63) .70 191 (.61) .70

Women 75 3L95(.61) — 3.88 (.66) -

Men 73 3.92 (.65) - 194 (.56) —

One European American participant did not complete the SCST and another did not inAie*atn g ftu p r

Table 10. Means, standard deviations, and scafeieliabilities for the Self-Construai Scale (SCS) by ethnkaty and gender.

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6 wm wm 249 .2 8 5 - -.2 7 1 - <.001 1.27 .0 8 1 - 1.22 2.52 2.45 2,59 .2 5 3 - 3.57 -.014 SEB European Americans European B -.68 9,02 -7,74 1,94 64.05 64.06 64.03 1.23 Social Anxiety (Combined SAD (Combined Anxiety Social and FNE) AR2 .1 3 6 - .050** .003 ______6 *• Wm wm .327*** .053 -.225** 1.20 1,94 -.228**1,22 -7.78 1,93 -.272- AslanAmericans 1,95 2.04 .335- 9.18 3,28 Social Social Avoidance (SAD) BSEB 9.77 2.04 ,369*** 10,34 8,66 2.02 2,31 -5,81 74,07 Own Self-discrepancies and social anxiety for the Asian and European Americans European and anxiety forAsian the social and Self-discrepancies Own Predictor Variables Predictor Constant 73.91 1.23 Own Self discrepancy Own Self Own Own Selfdiscrepancy Independence Constant 73,91 Constant Own Selfdiscrepancy 8.87 Independence -5,73 Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 ••♦it<,001 Table 12: Summary of hierarchical regression analyses exploring whether Independent Self-Constroal moderates the relationship between relationship the moderates Self-Constroal Independent whether exploring analyses regression ofhierarchical Table Summary 12: Notea. Analysis uses centered scores, centered uses Analysis Notea. 3 * Own SDx Independence

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Variable B SEB B AR2 Sfepl .081’ Constant 6105 127 — OwnSD 1034 2.52 2 8 5 - Step 2 Constant 6105 127 — <.001 OwnSD 10.35 254 286— Mtmacyotsen .04 1.34 .002 Step 3 Constant 6131 127 — .019* OwnSD 9.96 253 275— Primacy of Self 2 4 1.33 .012 Own SD x Primacy of Self 5.06 255 .138* Notes. Analysis uses centered scores.

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Table 13. Summaiy o f hierarchical regression analysis exploring whether Primacy o f S elf moderates the relationship between Own self-discrepancies and social avoidance (SAD) for the European Americans.

177

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.048" .023* m 6 wm wm .245*" .75 ,75 1.41 1.40 .218" 1.29 .141* .008 2.28 -.077 BE B B 2.762,51 1.27 .155" 4.31 4,84 4.93 1.41 ,250"* -2.47 15.30 15,16 15,29 .74 Group AR* .045" .036* < .0 0 1 - 8 wm WW 212 ,244" .191* .84 .83 Asian AmericansAsian EuropeanAmericans 1.40 . 1.40 ,243" 1.39 1.41 2.22 .002 .05 BSEB 3.66 3.26 1.38 .191* 4.20 17.15 17.16 .84 17.15 Other Self-discrepancies and depression for the Asian and European Americans European and forAsian the depression and Self-discrepancies Other Constant OtherSelf-discrepancy Interdependence Constant OtherSelf-discrepancy Interdependence 3.27 Constant OtherSD x Interdependence Predictor Variables Predictor Stop Stop 1 Step 3 Step 2 *R<.05;f*R<,01; 10 001;*Ji<. Notes. Analysis uses centered scores. centered uses Analysis Notes. Table 14: Summaiy of hierarchical regression analyses exploring whether Interdependent Sclf-Constnial moderates the relationship between relationship the moderates Sclf-Constnial Interdependent whether exploring analyses regression ofhierarchical Table Summaiy 14: i OtherSeWjscrepancy 4.21

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Women 119 21.82(3,70) — 20.69 (7.29) —

Men 73 22.53(3,48) - 20.34(858) —

Asian Americans 148 21.79(3,60) .67 25.03(6.48) .84

Women 75 22.11(3.35) — 24,82(6.40) —

Men 73 21.47(3.83) — 25.24(6.59) —

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Table 16. Micaiw. standard deviations, and scale reliabilities for the Extended Life Orientation Test (ELOT) by ethnicity and gender.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ______Dependent_variable______Group Predictor Variables Depression (CES>D)______Social Anxiety (Combined SAD and FNE) B SEB B m B SEB B AR2 Asian Step 1 Americans Constant >2.53 3.01 •* .239*** 101.69 7.68 .113*** Pessimism .79 ,12 .488*** 1.28 .30 ,3 36 -* Step 2 Constant 13.18 8,47 .020* 160.20 21.30 Wm .0 5 0 - Pessimism ,61 ,15 ,379*** .63 .37 .164 Optimism -.52 .26 -.179* >1.92 .66 -.282**

European Step 1 ; Americans Constant •2.32 2.09 wm .291*** 74.59 5.25 wm .324*** ■ Pessimism .86 .10 .539*** 2.32 .24 .669*** Step 2 Constant >2.43 7.71 <.001 105,45 19.20 ,010 Pessimism .86 .14 .540*** 1,93 .34 ,474*** Optimism .004 .25 .001 •1.03 .62 -.138 <.05; Mp < .01; ♦♦*n<,001

Tuble 17; Summary of hierarchical regression analyses predicting depression and social anxiety from optimism and pessimism for Asian and European Americans.

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182

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*** 200 AR2 . ,030 .020 from optimism, pessimism, and Ideal, Ought pessimism, from optimism, B wm wm ww ww .172* .112 .052 .119 -.322*** (SAD) .42 .24 .153 .43.24 -.174* ,391*** .278*** .44.24 -.154* .359*** 1.90 .085 2.21 2.33 SEB 13.53 13.42 14.44 B .43 .23 .99 .45 1.69 .019 -.88 2.31 2.00 •1.44 -1.13 ,44 -.253* 75.95 15.71 94.53 61.36 50.24 Variable Pessimism Constant Pessimism .38 Ideal SD Optimism Constant Optimism OughtSD Undesired SD 1.14 Pessimism Constant Optimism Pessimism 1.07 Ideal SD Undesired SD 1.47 2.36 .042 Optimism -.78 Constant OughtSD 3.57 2.23 Step 1 Step 2 Step 1 Step 2 Undesired Self-Discrepancies. Undesired Group <,05; ♦♦♦#<,001; *&<, 10 *&<, ♦♦♦#<,001; <,05; Asian Americans European *# Table 19. Summaiy of hierarchical regression analysis predicting social avoidance avoidance social predicting analysis ofregression Table hierarchical 19. Summaiy Americans

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. European Americans Asfen Americans Predictors & SEB ft AR? & SEB 0 AR?

StBpI: Constant 39.51 440 4349 4.83 upnmsm -1.10 4 0 -.374*** .140— -1.19 4 2 .411— .169— Step 2: Constant 30.12 5.16 34.89 644 ^ — upunsvt -.99 .19 -139— .046— -1.05 43 .361— .027* UndesiedSD 437 1.33 4 1 8 *- 264 1.19 .172*

Stepl: Constant 39151 44Q 4349 443 Optimism -110 4 0 -.374— .140— -1.19 4 2 -.411— .169— Step 2: Constant 35.11 544 4241 610 Optimism -102 41 •149— 405 -1.16 43 -107— <401 bfeatSD 1J)6 46 476 .16 149 412

Stepl: Constant -232 209 -253 3.01 Pessimism .88 .10 .539— 491— .79 .12 .488— 439— Step 2: Constant -5u42 255 •449 341 Pessimism .80 .10 .502— 416* .72 .12 147— 412 Undesired SO 265 146 .132* 110 1.16 .117

Stepl: Constant -232 209 -253 3.01 Pessimism 16 .10 .539— 491— .79 .12 .488— 439— Step 2: Constant •292 264 ■4.77 3.76 Pessimism 1 5 .10 132— 401 .77 .12 177— 405 Idea! SO 4 3 1 7 424 4 7 49 412 N ote Analyses in bold represent those that are conastent with mediation.

*H<05. *** e <0O1

Table 20. SamniaryoChicrarducal regression analyses testing whether optimism and pessimism mediate the rdbtfionship between Undcsircd/H eal scifKSscrcpancics and depression (CES-D Scores) among European and Asian Americans.

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. European Americans Asian Americans Predictors g SEB $ AR2 g SEB 6 W

Stepl: Constant 113.76 732 11136 747 Optimism -225 .33 .446*“ .198“ -1.90 .33 -.426“ .182“ Step 2: Constant 102.68 8.71 10150 027 Optimism -2.13 .33 -.421*“ .022* •1.73 4 5 -481“ 417* Undesired SO 5.15 225 .149* 117 143 .135*

Stopt: Constant 11176 7 3 2 11136 747 Optimism -1 2 5 .33 .446*** .198“ -1.90 .33 -.426“ .182“ Step 2: Constant 99.12 923 10241 049 Optimism -2.05 .33 -.406“ * •149 4 5 -47P“ OughtSO 102 1.97 .168* .027* 120 1.71 .147* 419*

Stopl: Constant 35.19 168 S1.09 493 Pessimism 1.40 .17 .512“ 262“ .91 .19 .368“ .136“ Step 2: Constant 3193 451 4845 125 Pessimism 144 .18 490*“ 40 20 421“ Undesired SO 2.78 224 480 406 3.12 143 .132 415

Stopl: Constant 35.19 168 51.09 493 Pessimism 1.40 .17 512*“ 262“ 41 .19 468“ .136“ Stop 2: Constant 27.82 472 43.42 168 Pessimism 151 .17 .476“ 4 0 .19 423“ Ought SO 4.62 1.89 .154* .022* 434 149 200* 438* Note: Analyses in bofal represent tbose to t ate consistent with mediation.

* 2 < .0 5 , **p < .01,— p< .0 0 1 .-1 0

Table 21. Sam iiiaiyafluefan£kal regression analyses testing whether optimism and pessimism mecfiatetherelationshq^ between Undesued/Ought sei&fisaepandes and social avoidance (SA P S<»cs) aiaong European and Asian Americans.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ilopandpf^ MetSator Independent Group SobeiTest Variable Variable Stattdfe Opfiridsni UndessredSD Asian Americans 2.87- European Americans 2:08* Ideal SD Asian Americans 332— European Americans 142?— Pessimism UndesiredSD Asian Americans 161— European Americans 160— Ideal SD Asian Americans 133* European Americans 431— Optimism UndesiredSD Asian Americans 1 9 4 - Avoidance European Americans 2.15* Ought SD Asian Americans 1 1 8 - European Americans 2.97- Pessimism Undesired SD Asian Americans 2.99- European Amerfpene 1 5 P - Ought SD Asian Americans 2.32* European Americans 1 0 1 - Notes. Entries in bold aie those sets o f variables wbere complete mediation is likely present, bascdon the resuits o f previous hierarchical regression analyses that show that in the presence ofthe mediator, the IV accounts for less than 1% o f the variance m the D V . Entries not in bold represent partial mediation.

* B < .0 5 ; **B< .0 1 ; ***B< .001

T a b le 2 2 . SnMlMtwmimhftheAwm AmeKran^anrfFjimpean Amwicani fa\ ifctom iw whether optimism / pessimism mediates the relationship between setfcdiscrcpancy ami ww^innal

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. USCtfeens US Permanent Residents International Students Total Measure n M (SD) n M(SD) n M (80) N M (80) Family Conflict Scale (FC8) UkeHbood 62 28.97(9.96) 26 26.49(9.51) 52 24.11(6.80) 145 26,41(8.68) fiMiouantts 62 29.99(9.99) 25 24.04(8.56) 52 29.99(8.67) 145 29.96(6,84) ModffledAoeulturalion Rains 6cale for Mexican Americans (AR8MA4I) Allan Identity 62 56.08(12.16) 24 62.68(19.80) 62 69.26(0.19) 144 61.64(12.98) .88 Western Identity 62 59.17 (6.17) 24 49.69(7.51) 62 41.6(7,79) 144 48,19(8.80) .86 Unklmenalonal Scow______62 100.11(16.08) 24 88.80(19.01) 62 74.71(19.14) 144 88.60 (19.33) ,91 Three Asian American participants did not complete tho FCS ortho ARSMA-JI, A fourth Asian American participant also foiled to complete the ARSMA*H, s 3 Table 23, Means, standard deviations, and scale reliabilities on the Family Conflict Scale (FCS) and modified Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA-II) for the Asian American participants, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. without prohibited reproduction Further owner. copyright the of permission with Reproduced

Dependent variable o l U 5 ■* 1 « i « I M C col lii s 3 CO CQ IU GQ _ s> 8 S O o M C g S CO KCO C K O C N S> t s M MC t*. * t CO CM CM : CO Q M O M C O O CM o i S S S S n o * CM CM CM r fM *■ Mf M M Mr » CM <5 CO M CO CM O O N k 2 CM — * O I 5 ( - » M N < P M> CO CO M> P < g£ g t CO i S o CM - » s « O C v N K O O O N M E S 5 S CO CO » C C O C CO CM CO M O*• ^ • * OO CM S N O O I O O O ' C | s? » 0 CO 8 * 0 4? CO » - » M C « * « « m t t I 5 x §

•ss t CM >

•P* [f* I 5 V VI V CO Is CM M? l i Is Is i t Jl^ *5 19co ■o“ 2 £ |J ^ © " 2 4 i I s S S O § g o g I? s I w Q o o s I* m. # £ “S. S

GQIQttfUUlbrtllMIIQMUM Sc* 1 2 3 4 5 5 7

tA RSH A IIA iim P 1

2 LARSM 4U I W N t a n E > -J5 3T* 1

3 .ARSM/UI --- -*•------2 f f “ .7 7 *“ 1 m o m e n tlo n a s c o r n MM* 4 . P a r e n t * A a t a n i D 2 8 f - .1 9 - 2 6 ** 1

S - P w a t f W o r t n m P - .1 9 .4 1 *** 2 9 “ -. 4 0 — 1

6 .FCSSeriouvm * 2 6 * - .1 1 - 2 3 *. 4 7 — - 2 6 * 1

7 .FCSUksflhood .1 6 - 2 3 - .1 3 2 5 T“ - 2 3 “.7 9 — 1

&CES 4 2 9 “ - 2 5 * -. 3 1 “ .1 6 - 2 2 * A 2 — 2 2 “

9 .FNE .0 8 .0 3 - .0 5 » .1 2 - 2 4 2 2 “ 2 2 *

1 0 LSAD 2 6 * - .1 9 - 2 6 * .0 8 - .1 1 .4 2 — 2 4 ?

1 1 . A n x i e t y ( S A D t F N E ) 2 0 - .0 9 - .1 8 .1 2 - 2 9 .4 3 — 2 7 *

1 2 .SCSIndBpandanca - .1 3 .1 4 .1 5 < .0 1 2 9 - .1 0 - .1 0

IXSCStntefdapendenca .1 8 .1 1 - jOS 2 5 ' 2 8 * .1 8 .0 7

1 4 . E L O T O p t i m i s m < w O t .0 7 .0 3 - .1 1 2 4 * - 2 6 “-. 3 2 “

1SL B LO rn— ^mtwn .1 5 - .1 7 - .1 8 2 6 * - .1 8 . 4 3 — .3 4 “

I&U h ISD .0 5 - .0 7 - .0 7 - .0 3 - .0 6 .0 9 .1 3

1 7 . O u g h t S O - .0 8 - .0 7 .0 4 .0 5 - .0 3 .1 7 .1 9

1&UndBsredSO .0 2 - 2 2 * - .1 0 < -.0 1 - 2 1 .1 1 .0 7 * f c < . 0 5 . ; • * • * < . 0 1

Table 25. Corrdatiocs between variables for the Asian American US citizens and permanent residents.

189

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Variable B SEB p R2

Constant 19198 131 - .148**

ARSMA4 Asian ID .12 .11 .140

ARSMA4 Western ID -.33 2 1 -.192

Asian ID x Western ID .03 .01 .234*

Note. Analysis uses centered scores.

•B<.05; **b <.01

Table 26. Summary o f regression analysis exploring the interaction between Asian and Western identification on depression (CES-D) for the Asian American US citizens and permanent residents

190

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. B SEB 6 OR?

Stepl

Constant 494 3176 -

Famiy Contact .49 .14 .381“ * .145“ *

Step 2

Constant 9.89 725 —

Famfly Conflict .44 .16 .342“

Parents'Acculturafion 4.01 1.58 -.078 .005

***b =.0O1

Table 27: Sonunary o f hierarobical regression analysis predicting depression (CES-D scores) from fam ily conflict (combined FCS-Likelihood and FCS-Scriousness scores) and perceptions o f parental accutturatioo fo r the Asian American US eitnwif/ pwrnmwif twirfwitt

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