Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in two individualistic cultures, the United States (N = 231) and Australia (N = 195), and four collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N = 199), Philippines (N = 195), Malaysia (N = 217), and Japan (N = 180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology perspectives as applied to East Asian cultures (i.e., Japan), but not collectivistic cultures more generally. Some but not all of the hypothesized predictors of consistency were supported across cultures. Cross-role consistency predicted aspects of adjustment in all cultures, but prediction was most reliable in the American sample and weakest in the Japanese sample. Alternative constructs proposed by cultural psychologists-personality coherence, social appraisal, and relationship harmony-predicted adjustment in all cultures, but were not, as hypothesized, better predictors of adjustment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures.
Publisher's Disclaimer:The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/ NIH Public Access "…for traits to distinguish people from one another, they must display some distinctive consistency." (Johnson, 1997, p. 74) '…an implicit promise of trait theories is to account for consistency across a range of situations." (Moskowitz, 1994, p. 921) "…the functional value of consistency is less clear for East Asian selves" (Heine, 2001, p. 886) "Interdependent selves do not prescribe or require consistency [which] may reflect, not authenticity, but a lack of flexibility, rigidity, or even immaturity" (Markus & Kitayama, 1994, p. 576) As illustrated above, psychologists offer a range of views regarding trait-relevant consistency and its relation to adjustment across cultures. In discussing these differences in emphases or expectations, it is useful to distinguish trait and cultural psychology perspectives. While the trait concept implies a degree of consistency of behavior across relevant situations in all cultures, a number of cultural psychologists have predicted less consistency in collectivistic cultures, where behavior is thought to be more influenced by contextual factors such as roles and relationships (Markus & Kitayama, 1998;Suh, 2002;Triandis, 1995). Furthermore, whereas greater consistency or integration of identity has been described as an indicator of positive mental health i...
