Correlates of self-construals among Asian and Caucasian undergraduates in Canada : Cultural patterns and implications for counselling

This study analyzed betweenand within-group patterns of interdependent and independent self-construals in a sample of Asian Canadian, Asian International, and Caucasian Canadian undergraduate students. It examined various correlates of self-construals, including gender, socioeconomic status, English reading comprehension, length of stay in Canada, perceived interpersonal stress, collective coping, avoidance coping, and engagement coping. These correlates were used to predict interdependence and independence, using multiple regression analyses. The patterns of self-construals and their predictors were found to differentially predict criteria across the three cultural groups. The findings have implications for integrating culture-based self-construals into counselling practice with culturally diverse populations, particularly Asians. In the last decade, cultural psychology has explored cultural variations of self-construals in terms of interdependent and independent self-a distinction that often exemplifies Asian collectivism and Western individualism at the individual level (Kitayama, 2002; Singelis, 1994). Interdependent self-construal represents a flexible, variable, and socially defined self that has collective, contextual, connected, and relational qualities (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Markus and Kitayama posit that independent selfconstrual, on the other hand, represents a bound, unitary, stable, and socially separated self that has individualistic, autonomous, and self-contained qualities. Evidence has pointed to the usefulness of applying self-construals and the broader concepts of individualism-collectivism to understanding the psychological adjustment and well-being of culturally diverse individuals (Williams, 2003). However, research in this area is sparse. Yeh and Hwang (2000) have noted a general de-emphasis of interdependence in Western-based counselling and psychotherapy in favour of independence; that is, a lack of attempts within traditional therapeutic interventions to conceptualize the self from a relational and contextual perspective. The current study investigates the cultural and predictive patterns of sociodemographic, acculturation, and stress-coping correlates of interdependent and independent self-construals in Asian and Caucasian undergraduate students in Canada. We discuss the implications for providing and practicing counselling with multicultural clients. Research on cross-cultural comparisons of self has evidenced a strong case for a cultural distinction between Asians and North Americans (European Canadians and Americans) on selfconstruals (Heine, 2001; Triandis, 2001). The differential impacts of self-construals on emotions, behaviours, and motivations between these two cultural groups have been noted in the literature (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Williams, 2003). For instance, empirical studies have linked Asians' interdependent tendency to emotion (Liem, Lam, & Liem, 2002); selfesteem and embarrassability (Singelis, Bond, Sharky, & Lai, 1999; Singelis & Sharkey, 1995); self-disclosure tendency (Barry, 2003); acculturation (Abe-Kim, Okazaki, & Goto, 2001; Tata & Leong, 1994); coping approaches (Cross, 1995; Yeh, Inose, Kobori, & Chang, 2001); and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help (Tata & Leong, 1994; Yeh, 2002). Our review of the self-construal literature on Asians suggested two limitations. First, the prevailing research paradigm of a cross-cultural selfsystem appears to focus either on comparisons across ethnic groups (e.g., between Japanese and Americans; see Singelis & Sharkey, 1995, for an example) or on a single ethnic group examination (e.g., see Barry, 2003). As a result, there is little research on self-construals that investigates patterns between ethnic groups and within an ethnic group at the same time. There appears to be no research that compares interdependence and independence across different cohorts of Asian Canadians (North American-born vs. foreign-born and immigrants vs. international students). The second limitation is that given that interdependent and independent self-construals are typically treated as predictors of psychological outcomes (see Triandis, 2001), little empirical attention has focused on the contextual and behavioural correlates of self-construals. This gap exists despite appeals from prominent crosscultural researchers in the area. For instance, Singelis (1994) advocated the need to examine "the determination of cultural definitions of situations that guide the individual to reference the independent or the interdependent self" (p. 589). More recently, a number of theorists highlighted the importance of conceptualizing selfconstruals as "person-in-actual-cultural-contexts" phenomena, stressing the interaction among personal and contextual factors (Kitayama, 2002; Yeh & Hwang, 2000). In response to these methodological and empirical gaps, the current study compared self-construals between two Asian cohort groups and across Asian and Caucasian groups. The study also examined the correlates of self-construals in terms of sociodemographic, acculturation, and stress-