Independence and Interdependence Predict Health and Wellbeing: Divergent Patterns in the United States and Japan
Open accessAbstract
A cross-cultural survey was used to examine two hypotheses designed to link culture to wellbeing and health. The first hypothesis states that people are motivated toward prevalent cultural mandates of either independence (personal control) in the United States or interdependence (relational harmony) in Japan. As predicted, Americans with compromised personal control and Japanese with strained relationships reported high perceived constraint. The second hypothesis holds that people achieve wellbeing and health through actualizing the respective cultural mandates in their modes of being. As predicted, the strongest predictor of wellbeing and health was personal control in the United States, but the absence of relational strain in Japan. All analyses controlled for age, gender, educational attainment, and personality traits. The overall pattern of findings underscores culturally distinct pathways (independent versus interdependent) in achieving the positive life outcomes.
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People who adhere to their relevant cultural norms tend to experience better life outcomes, including health and well-being.
“People who adhere to their relevant cultural norms tend to experience better life outcomes, including health and well-being (e.g., Kitayama, Karasawa, Curhan, Ryff, & Markus, 2010).”
From Culture and Healthy Eating: The Role of Independence and Interdependence in the United States and Japan (2016) · cites this paper as Kitayama, Karasawa, Curhan, Ryff, & Markus, 2010
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- Authors
- Kitayama, S., Karasawa, M., Curhan, K. B., Ryff, C. D., & Markus, H. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Tokyo Woman's Christian University (JP)
- Stanford University (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kitayama, Shinobu
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2010
- Volume
- 1
- Pages
- 163-163
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3153777
- OpenAlex
- W2105412832
- Cited by
- 247
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 62 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 3.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Aging (R37AG027343, P01AG020166)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health, psychology, and well-being
- Keywords
- independence, interdependence, personal control, relational harmony, well-being, health, cultural mandate, cross-cultural comparison, United States, Japan, perceived constraints, relational strain, self-determination
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