IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jhappi/v15y2014i5p995-1014.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Self-Related and Other-Related Pathways to Subjective Well-Being in Japan and the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Sheida Novin
  • Ivy Tso
  • Sara Konrath

Abstract

Cross-cultural comparisons demonstrate that subjective well-being (SWB) is rated lower among East Asian than Western individuals. Regardless of such cultural differences, however, factors that predict SWB among people from various cultures may be similar. In the current study we demonstrate the universality of two potential pathways to SWB: those which are more self-related (e.g., independent self-construal; personal expression of emotions), and those which are more other-related (e.g., interdependent self-construal; giving social support to others). Using the MIDUS II and the MIDJA datasets, we find that even though American older adults (N = 1,248) report higher levels of SWB, emotional expression, and social support provision than their Japanese counterparts (N = 1,010), there are similar influences of both self and other-related pathways on SWB. Specifically, emotional expression and social support provision contribute equally to SWB in both groups. Moreover, structural equation models revealed that in both cultural groups, independent self-construal has a direct positive effect on SWB, but also indirectly predicts SWB via increased emotional expression and giving support to others. Interdependent self-construal also has a positive effect on SWB. However, it indirectly has both a positive effect (through giving more support to others) and a negative effect (through less emotional expression) on SWB. These findings were nearly identical across cultures, except that Americans showed a stronger positive relationship between independent self-construal and emotional expression, and Japanese showed a stronger positive relation between independence and giving social support. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Suggested Citation

  • Sheida Novin & Ivy Tso & Sara Konrath, 2014. "Self-Related and Other-Related Pathways to Subjective Well-Being in Japan and the United States," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 995-1014, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:15:y:2014:i:5:p:995-1014
    DOI: 10.1007/s10902-013-9460-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10902-013-9460-9
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10902-013-9460-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patricia A. Thomas, 2010. "Is It Better to Give or to Receive? Social Support and the Well-being of Older Adults," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 65(3), pages 351-357.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Iosif Ilia & Dana Rad & Tiberiu Dughi & Anca Egerau & Edgar Demeter & Gavril Rad, 2022. "Schadenfreude and life satisfaction: effect of anger and aggressiveness," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 28(1), pages 76-88, February.
    2. Alma Au & Simon Lai & Wen Wu & Jan Hofer & Holger Busch & Iva Poláčková Šolcová & Peter Tavel & Sheung-Tak Cheng, 2020. "Generativity and Positive Emotion in Older Adults: Mediation of Achievement and Altruism Goal Attainment Across Three Cultures," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 677-692, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wilfred Uunk & Paula Hoffmann, 2023. "Do Personality Traits Moderate the Effects of Cohabitation, Separation, and Widowhood on Life Satisfaction? A Longitudinal Test for Germany," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 141-157, January.
    2. Karen Siedlecki & Timothy Salthouse & Shigehiro Oishi & Sheena Jeswani, 2014. "The Relationship Between Social Support and Subjective Well-Being Across Age," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 561-576, June.
    3. Yen-Pi Cheng & Kira S. Birditt & Steven H. Zarit & Karen L. Fingerman, 2015. "Young Adults’ Provision of Support to Middle-Aged Parents," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 70(3), pages 407-416.
    4. Ang, Shannon & Malhotra, Rahul, 2022. "The filial piety paradox: Receiving social support from children can be negatively associated with quality of life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    5. Marcin Rzeszutek, 2018. "A longitudinal analysis of posttraumatic growth and affective well-being among people living with HIV: The moderating role of received and provided social support," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, August.
    6. Kim, Chelsea & Feng, Bo, 2021. "Digital inequality in online reciprocity between generations: A preliminary exploration of ability to use communication technology as a mediator," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Na Li & Mang He, 2023. "Intergenerational Support and Subjective Wellbeing of the Elderly in Mainland China: The Role of Perceived Health," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    8. Tianyuan Li & Vivian Hiu-Ling Tsang, 2016. "Age differences in the understanding of wealth and power: the mediating role of future time perspective," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 349-360, December.
    9. Madeleine Mellqvist Fässberg & Kimberly A. van Orden & Paul Duberstein & Annette Erlangsen & Sylvie Lapierre & Ehud Bodner & Silvia Sara Canetto & Diego De Leo & Katalin Szanto & Margda Waern, 2012. "A Systematic Review of Social Factors and Suicidal Behavior in Older Adulthood," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-24, March.
    10. Daniele Didino & Ekaterina A. Taran & Kristina Gorodetski & Zarui A. Melikyan & Svetlana Nikitina & Ilya Gumennikov & Olga Korovina & Fabio Casati, 2018. "Exploring predictors of life satisfaction and happiness among Siberian older adults living in Tomsk Region," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 175-187, June.
    11. Arpana Pandit & Yoshinori Nakagawa, 2021. "How Does Reciprocal Exchange of Social Support Alleviate Individuals’ Depression in an Earthquake-Damaged Community?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-16, February.
    12. Anthony Bardo & Takashi Yamashita, 2014. "Validity of Domain Satisfaction Across Cohorts in the US," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 367-385, June.
    13. Lois M. Verbrugge & Shannon Ang, 2018. "Family reciprocity of older Singaporeans," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 287-299, September.
    14. Hui Foh Foong & Rahimah Ibrahim & Tengku Aizan Hamid & Mohamad Fazdillah Bagat, 2023. "The Mediating Role of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in The Relation Between Cognitive Function and Life Satisfaction Among Malaysian Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Do Gender and Age Matter," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(4), pages 1897-1914, August.
    15. Da Jiang & Helene H Fung, 2022. "Daily Reciprocity and Well-Being: A Diary Study of Intergenerational Support Between Mothers and Adult Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 77(4), pages 46-56.
    16. Lin Yu & Zhimin Yan & Xun Yang & Lei Wang & Yuhan Zhao & Glenn Hitchman, 2016. "Impact of Social Changes and Birth Cohort on Subjective Well-Being in Chinese Older Adults: A Cross-Temporal Meta-analysis, 1990–2010," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 795-812, March.
    17. Angelina Wilson & Marie P. Wissing & Lusilda Schutte, 2019. "“We Help each Other”: Relational Patterns among Older Individuals in South African Samples," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(5), pages 1373-1392, November.
    18. Noam Damri & Howard Litwin, 2016. "Minority population group status and QOL change: the case of older Israelis," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 299-309, December.
    19. Philipa Birago Akuoko & Vincent Aggrey & Jennifer Dokbila Mengba, 2021. "Mothering with a career during a pandemic; the case of the Ghanaian woman," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S2), pages 277-288, July.
    20. Amanda Wilkinson & Lucy Bowen & Elias Gustavsson & Simon Håkansson & Nicole Littleton & James McCormick & Michelle Thompson & Hilda Mulligan, 2019. "Maintenance and Development of Social Connection by People with Long-term Conditions: A Qualitative Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-11, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:15:y:2014:i:5:p:995-1014. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.