Cross‐Cultural Validity of Bowen Theory in Southern European Countries

We present a comparison between Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal to test the cross‐cultural validity of the Differentiation of Self Inventory Revised (DSI‐R) Scales of emotional cut‐off (EC) and emotional reactivity (ER). Our study focuses on the importance of in‐depth analyses of the differentiation of self‐constructs from a cross‐cultural perspective and reflects on the possibility of conceptualising the universality of Bowen theory in southern European countries. The study involved 1,807 healthy individuals. All participants completed the DSI‐R (Skowron & Schmitt, 2003). It was found that the measurement models had a suitable fit for each country group. Nevertheless, in our study, the two DSI‐R subscales, ER and EC, highlighted a weak invariance, specifically demonstrating only the invariance of the pattern factor loadings and the magnitude of factor loadings in the four samples. The empirical and clinical implications of these data are discussed.     

Migration,Motherhood, Marriage: Cross‐Cultural Adaptation of North American Immigrant Mothers in Israel

This study probes the cross‐cultural adaptation patterns of North American women who immigrated to Israel with their Israeli‐born husbands (or married there) and are mothers in their new country. In order to undertake a cultural analysis of the interplay between immigration, motherhood and bicultural marriage, we examine: the effects of motherhood and North American culture of origin on cross‐cultural adaptation; the effects of immigration to Israel on motherhood and childrearing; the influence of family of origin on the immigrant motherhood experience; and the role of Israeli husbands and their families in the women’s cross‐cultural adaptation process. We study patterns for the entire group as well as bringing out individual differences. Our main finding is that motherhood serves as the principal social link to the Israeli host society. The high status of North American culture and English proficiency facilitate cross‐cultural adaptation in Israel. Our findings reveal transnationalist tendencies co‐existing with various adaptation strategies. We propose an expansion of previous acculturation models to accommodate this dual modus vivendi.     

An Examination of Cross‐Racial Comparability of Mother‐Child Interaction Among African American and Anglo American Families

This study examined the cross‐racial comparability of maternal quality of assistance and supportive presence coded from a video protocol using data from the Infant Health and Development Program for low‐birth‐weight, premature 30‐month‐olds and their mothers. Evidence of equivalence of measures is necessary before comparisons can be made across groups. Multiple‐group mean and covariance structures analysis was used to demonstrate the invariance of the measures and make comparisons for Anglo American and African American treatment and comparison groups of dyads. Comparisons across groups indicated similar variances and correlation between child and maternal behavior. Differences were found between the mean scores, with Anglo American treatment families scoring the highest.     

The Effect of Solution‐Focused Versus Problem‐Focused Questions: A Replication

In therapeutic conversations, questions can be considered as interventions in their own right. This study is a cross‐cultural replication of Grant (Journal of Systemic Therapies, 2012, 31, 2, 21) study on the effects of different types of questions on various clinically relevant variables. A total of 204 students of a Spanish university described a real‐life problem that they wanted to solve and were then randomly assigned to either a solution‐focused or a problem‐focused questions condition. Before and after answering the questions, they completed a set of measures that assessed positive and negative affect, self‐efficacy, and goal attainment. Solution‐focused questions produced a significantly greater increase in self‐efficacy, goal approach, and action steps than problem‐focused questions, and a significantly greater decrease in negative affect, providing further empirical support to solution‐focused practices.     

Reflections on a Cross‐National Qualitative Study of Within‐Household Finances

This report presents some reflections on and experiences from a cross‐national qualitative research project about within‐household finances conducted by sociologists from Germany, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. The authors focus first on the challenges of making qualitative cross‐national comparisons and argue for the importance of establishing a common understanding of methodological and theoretical aspects. They then go on to consider the relevance of political – cultural context for understanding within‐household distribution of resources. They suggest that meanings of money are influenced by understandings of gender, which in turn influence and are influenced by welfare regimes. They then present a few outcomes from a cross‐national analysis of results from Spain, Sweden, and the United States. They conclude the article by suggesting that comparisons on the level of results rather than on the level of primary data is a viable option for qualitative cross‐national analysis.     

The Planned Happenstance Career Inventory: A Cross‐Cultural Comparison

This study examined the measurement invariance and latent mean difference of an English version (J. H. Lee et al., 2017) of the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory (PHCI; B. Kim, Jung, et al., 2014) across cultures. Participants were 262 American and 291 South Korean undergraduates. Measurement invariance results indicated that the 5‐factor structure was adequate for both groups and that conditions for configural, metric, and partial intercept invariance were met. Latent mean analysis was used to compare the mean scores of the PHCI skills (curiosity, flexibility, persistence, optimism, and risk taking). The latent means of curiosity, flexibility, persistence, and optimism were higher among South Korean undergraduates, but no significant difference was found regarding risk taking. Career counselors should consider differences in planned happenstance perceptions across cultures to provide better career guidance. Future studies are needed to verify the distinctive nature of flexibility by replicating the factor structure of the PHCI with other samples.     

Birth Cohort and Age Changes in the Self‐Esteem of Chinese Adolescents: A Cross‐Temporal Meta‐Analysis, 1996–2009

The present cross‐temporal meta‐analysis involving 68 studies (n = 35,499) found that Chinese adolescents' scores on the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale decreased substantially from 1996 to 2009. The decline of self‐esteem across birth cohorts was associated with the slide of social connection level of Chinese adolescents. Correlations between self‐esteem and corresponding social indicators like the floating population and divorce rate were significant. Analysis on self‐esteem age differences showed that self‐esteem development in China was different from Western results: self‐esteem scores followed a roughly increasing trend from Grade 7 through Grade 12 with double dip points at Grades 7 and 11.     

Cross‐domain comparison and the politics of difference

This paper makes the case for cross‐domain comparison as an undertheorized form of comparative analysis. The units of analysis in such comparisons are not (as in most comparative analysis) predefined units within a domain or system of formally similar yet substantively different categories or entities; they are the domains or systems of categorically organized differences themselves. Focusing on domains of categorical difference that are central to the contemporary politics of difference, we consider two examples of cross‐domain comparison. The first compares sex/gender and race/ethnicity as systems of ascribed identities that are increasingly, yet to differing degrees and in differing ways, open to choice and change. The second compares religion and language as domains of categorically organized cultural difference that are centrally implicated in the politics of cultural pluralism. We situate these cross‐domain comparisons, premised on a logic of ‘different differences’, between generalizing and particularizing approaches to the politics of difference, arguing that these domains are similar enough to make comparison meaningful yet different enough to make comparison interesting. We outline five analytical focal points for cross‐domain comparison: the criteria of membership and belonging, the categorical versus gradational structure of variation within domains of difference, the consolidation or proliferation of categories of difference, the procedures for dealing with mixed or difficult‐to‐classify instances, and the relation between categories of difference and the production and reproduction of inequality. We conclude by considering several potential objections to cross‐domain comparison.     

Marital Quality and Personal Well‐Being: A Meta‐Analysis

This study examines the association between marital quality and personal well‐being using meta‐analytic techniques. Effects from 93 studies were analyzed. The average weighted effect size r was .37 for cross‐sectional and .25 for longitudinal effects. Results indicate that several variables moderate the association between marital quality and personal well‐being, including gender, participants’ marital duration, source of measurement, data collection year, and dependent variable. These results suggest that longitudinal effects are more likely to be uncovered when using standard measurement and that future research should use samples homogenous in marital length. The longitudinal finding that the strength of the association is stronger when personal well‐being is treated as the dependent variable supports previous theorizing.     

Value Similarities Among Fathers,Mothers, and Adolescents and the Role of a Cultural Stereotype: Different Measurement Strategies Reconsidered

In research on value similarity and transmission between parents and adolescents, no consensus exists on the level of value similarity. Reports of high‐value similarities coexist with reports of low‐value similarities within the family. The present study shows that different conclusions may be explained by the use of different measurement strategies. In addition, we demonstrate that measured value similarities may be biased by a cultural stereotype, that is, an indirectly measurable phenomenon outside the family most likely attributed to shared cultural experiences. We examined similarities in 8 social–cultural value orientations among fathers, mothers, and adolescents from 433 Dutch families. Results revealed different outcomes when using ordinary correlations (r), absolute difference scores (d), or profile correlations (q). Similarly, different influences of a cultural stereotype were found when applying different measurement strategies. We discuss which measurement strategies are best used under which circumstances and which role the cultural stereotype plays.     

A cross‐cultural test of the work‐family interface in 48 countries

This study tests a cross‐cultural model of the work‐family interface. Using multigroup structural equation modeling with IBM survey responses from 48 countries (N= 25,380), results show that the same work‐family interface model that fits the data globally also fits the data in a four‐group model composed of culturally related groups of countries, as well as a two‐group gender model. This supports a transportable rather than a culturally specific or gender‐specific work‐family interface model: notably, job flexibility related to reduced work‐family conflict, reduced family‐work conflict, and enhanced work‐family fit. Work‐family fit related to increased job satisfaction. Findings suggest that investment by multinational companies in job flexibility initiatives may represent a dual‐agenda way to benefit men, women, and businesses in diverse cultures.     

Self‐Focused Attention and Career Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Career Adaptability

The purpose of this study was to examine how 2 forms of self‐focused attention, self‐reflection and self‐rumination, influence career anxiety. The authors hypothesized that the association between these 2 types of self‐focused attention and career anxiety would be mediated by career adaptability on the basis of a career construction model of adaptation. The participants were 326 undergraduate students in South Korea. The results of this study supported the hypothesized mediation model by indicating significant indirect effects of self‐reflection and self‐rumination on career anxiety via career adaptability. The direct effect of self‐rumination on career anxiety was significant (B = .44, p < .01), but the direct effect of self‐reflection on career anxiety was not significant (B = –.05, p > .05). The authors discuss implications for counselors to help college students manage career anxiety by encouraging and supporting increased career adaptability. Future research to examine the cross‐cultural validity of the current findings is needed.     

Overcoming the Neglect of Social Process in Cross‐National and Comparative Criminology

How and why crime rates vary across different societal and cultural contexts has been a perennial question within criminological research. Numerous studies have emerged in recent years responding to calls for criminology to examine the cross‐cultural relevance of contemporary theory. While many of these studies have made significant advances, a great deal of work remains to be done in the development of theory, measurement, and methods. The present article examines the state of cross‐national criminological research, including a discussion of challenges in examining key theoretical questions. Promising avenues for overcoming issues with data and developing key theoretical perspectives to better assess how social processes explain cross‐national variations of crime are discussed.     

Initial Validation of the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory–English Version

This study examined the cross‐cultural validity of the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory (PHCI) for a sample of 262 U.S. college students. The original 5‐factor structure of the Korean PHCI was supported in the U.S. sample. Further analysis with career decision self‐efficacy and vocational identity status showed evidence of convergent and divergent validity of the measure. Results suggest that career counselors use a customized counseling approach based on PHCI scores. Suggestions for future cross‐cultural and longitudinal studies are made to extend the utility of the PHCI.     

Teen Dating Violence,Sexual Harassment,and Bullying Among Middle School Youth: Examining Measurement Invariance by Gender

This study investigated measurement invariance by gender among commonly used teen dating violence (TDV), sexual harassment, and bullying measures. Data were collected from one cohort of seventh‐grade middle school students (N = 754) from four schools. Using structural equation modeling, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses assessed measurement models and tested measurement invariance by gender for aggression measures. Analyses invoked baseline data only. Physical and psychological TDV perpetration measures achieved strict measurement invariance, while bullying perpetration demonstrated partial strict invariance. Electronic TDV and sexual harassment perpetration achieved metric/scalar invariance. Study findings lend validation to prior and future studies using these measures with similar populations. Future research should increase attention to measurement development, refinement, and testing among study measures.     

The Impact of Adolescents' Classroom and Neighborhood Ethnic Diversity on Same‐ and Cross‐Ethnic Friendships Within Classrooms

This study examines how classroom and neighborhood ethnic diversity affect adolescents' tendency to form same‐ versus cross‐ethnic friendships when they enter middle school. Hypotheses are derived from exposure, conflict, and constrict theory. Hypotheses are tested among 911 middle school students (43 classrooms, nine schools) in the Netherlands. Multilevel (p₂) social network analyses show that students were more likely to engage in same‐ethnic rather than cross‐ethnic friendships. In line with conflict theory, greater classroom and neighborhood diversity were related to stronger tendencies to choose same‐ethnic rather than cross‐ethnic friends, among both ethnic majority and minority students. Diversity did not hamper reciprocity, as students in more ethnically diverse classrooms were even more likely to reciprocate friendships.     

Culture,Region, and Cross‐National Violent Crime

Past cross‐national crime research has focused on structural factors with considerably less attention paid to cultural predictors. We extend the culture of honor thesis by identifying the importance of cultural gender inequality and test a direct measure of it on cross‐national violent crime rates. While prior research typically uses regional variables as proxies for culture, by using a direct cultural measure we are also able to identify whether culture contributes to explaining the regional associations found previously. Based on national surveys of 153 nations and more than a million respondents, this study is able to explore cultural, structural, and regional predictors of violent crime rates cross‐nationally. Two regions, Latin America and sub‐Saharan Africa, are far above the rest of the world in terms of violent crime rates. It turns out that most of the standard structural variables found to be important in previous cross‐national studies no longer have significant effects when controls for these two regions are imposed. On the other hand, we find that our measure of cultural gender inequality has one of the largest associations with violent crime rates, net of region, and also explains portions of both regional associations.     

Acculturation and Enculturation Trajectories Among Mexican‐American Adolescent Offenders

This study examines changes over time in ethnic affirmation/belonging and ethnic identity achievement, Spanish language use, English language use, Mexican/Mexican‐American affiliation/identification and Anglo affiliation/identification in a sample of Mexican‐American adolescents participating in a longitudinal study of juvenile offenders. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure and the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans‐II were completed by the Mexican‐American adolescents 7 times over a 3‐year period. The findings from longitudinal growth modeling analyses and growth mixture modeling analyses indicate that there is heterogeneity in the initial scores and changes over time on these variables that are related to markers for the cultural qualities of the home environment (i.e., generational status and mother's most frequent language use). In contrast to expectations, marginalized or assimilated acculturation trajectories/types were not overrepresented in this sample of adolescent offenders. Implications for our understanding of the nature of acculturation and enculturation processes and the way these processes are studied are discussed.     

Relative Rank‐order of Salient Identities of the Japanese

How are multiple identities of Japanese people rank‐ordered? Previous studies on multiple identities almost exclusively focus on people in the USA. Little is known about the structure of multiple identities of people living in other countries. Japan is a good comparative case because it has both similar and different social contexts than the USA. Analyzing a recent survey of a nationally representative sample of Japanese adults, I examine how multiple identities are rank‐ordered by their salience among the Japanese. The results suggest that among ten identities, the most salient are the family–marital status identity, the occupational identity, and the national identity, while the least salient identities are social class, religious, and political identities. This identity rank‐order differs from that found in a comparable study of Americans in that the rank‐orders of national and religious identities are reversed. The observed patterns also seem to contradict an emerging line of cross‐cultural research that suggests national identity is less important for the Japanese than for Americans. Overall, this paper empirically demonstrates the fundamental dictum of symbolic interactionism that self reflects society, and suggests the importance of specifying and examining country‐level factors to study identity structures.