Autonomy and Relatedness Satisfaction Predicting Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents: Focusing on Individualism-Collectivism Cultural Values

Abstract

The proposition, derived from self-determination theory (SDT), that autonomy-support has a positive effect on self-motivation and well-being, is examined in two distinct cultural settings. Participants were 264 high school students from Russia and the United States who completed measures of perceived parental-and teacher-autonomy-support, academic motivation, and well-being. Means and covariance structure analyses were used to examine the cultural comparability of measured constructs. Results supported the hypotheses that Russian adolescents would perceive parents and teachers as more controlling than U.S. students; and in both samples, perceived autonomy-support would predict greater academic self-motivation and well-being. Results are discussed in terms of SDT's postulate of a basic human need for autonomy in the context of cultural variations.

Recipients' happiness in prosocial spending: The role of social ties

“…Third, the current study finds that the relationship between autonomy satisfaction and recipients' happiness is not significant. As collectivistic people have been found to focus less on autonomy satisfaction than individualistic ones, and the relationship between autonomy satisfaction and happiness has been found to be insignificant in collectivistic people (Hong and Park, 2017), the current study thus infers that the insignificant relationship seems to be the result of the collectivism culture of China. This inference proposes an open question that although prosocial spending is likely to influence spenders and recipients' happiness, whether the related psychological mechanism is the same in Eastern and Western societies?…”

“…People who need autonomy more will benefit more happiness from autonomy satisfaction than those who need autonomy less (Schuler et al ., 2016). Meanwhile, compared with individualistic people, collectivistic people have been found to focus more on relatedness satisfaction rather than autonomy satisfaction (Hong and Park, 2017). And the relationship between autonomy satisfaction and happiness has also been found to be insignificant in collectivistic people (Hong and Park, 2017).…”

“…Meanwhile, compared with individualistic people, collectivistic people have been found to focus more on relatedness satisfaction rather than autonomy satisfaction (Hong and Park, 2017). And the relationship between autonomy satisfaction and happiness has also been found to be insignificant in collectivistic people (Hong and Park, 2017). Unlike the individualistic culture in western countries, Chinese culture is obviously more collectivistic‐oriented (Baldwin and Mussweiler, 2018).…”

Does authenticity always breed mental health? A cross‐cultural comparison between the United States and China

“…Moreover, accepting external influence plays a different role in Eastern cultures because being sensitive to and attuned with context is also part of selfconstrual (Kashima et al, 2004). In other words, accepting external influence is not necessarily harmful for individuals' subjective well-being in Eastern cultures since the need for connection seems to have a higher priority (Bao & Lam, 2008;Hong & Park, 2017). Therefore, accepting external influence is expected to be less predictive of the positive factor of mental health in Eastern cultures (Lu & Gilmour, 2004;Suh, 2002).…”

What Makes Korean Youth Happy: Self-Directedness Mediates the Relationship between Parenting and Subjective Well-Being

“…Autonomous factors that influence the subjective wellbeing of adolescents include self-directedness (Garcia, 2011;Garcia & Moradi, 2012;Garcia et al, 2013;H. L. Lee, 2013), autonomy (Cho, 2016;Hong & Park, 2017). Of these, self-directedness is one character dimension of Cloninger's (1987) personality model that refers to the ability to control, modify, and adjust individual behavior to match a given situation to achieve selected personal goals and values.…”