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Discrepancy Regarding Self, Family, and Country and Well-Being: The Critical Role of Self and Cultural Orientation

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Abstract

Previous research on self-discrepancy has mainly focused on the discrepancy between the actual and ideal or ought state at the personal level, and how they relate to well-being with little attention to the discrepancy regarding the family and country, which may also be very relevant to one’s well-being in a more collectivistic culture. The present study examined not only the discrepancy about oneself but also the discrepancies one perceives regarding their family and country and their relation to different measures of well-being, while taking cultural orientation into consideration. Across Study 1 and Study 2 examining Korean undergraduate participants, the actual–ideal self-discrepancies had the strongest association with well-being while the family- and country-discrepancies had weaker associations. Study 2 further showed that the actual–ideal self-discrepancies predicted well-being to a greater degree for the individualistic than for the collectivistic, while the actual–ought self-discrepancies was predictive of happiness to a greater degree for the collectivistic.

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Notes

  1. Eleven incorrect quiz respondents in the discrepancy questionnaire were found. These cases were dropped from the analysis, yielding a sample size of 247. The results did not differ from when the incorrect quiz respondents were included.

  2. Two pilot tests were conducted to select the 108 adjective list. In the pilot tests, participants were asked to list the following: (1) attributes that they think they/their family/and Korean society actually possesses (i.e., the actual self, actual family, and actual country); (2) attributes that they/their family/and Korean society would ideally like to possess (i.e., the ideal self, ideal family, and ideal country); and (3) attributes that they/their family/and Korean society ought to possess (i.e., the ought self, ought family, and ought country). Attributes that appeared more than twice among the responses were included in the final list, in addition to the 22 positive items from Seo (1996).

  3. In Study 1, discrepancy scores were calculated by subtracting actual states from ideal states (or ought states). Unlike Study 1, participants’ ratings in Study 2 reflected congruency rather than discrepancy.

  4. The same analyses were conducted using the individualism and collectivism scores as two separate variables, and the results were consistent with the patterns observed using a composite index of collectivism–individualism. There was a significant interaction effect between the actual–ideal self-discrepancy and individualism, β = − .19, t(222) = − 2.87, p < .01. In addition, there was a significant interaction effect between the actual–ought self-discrepancy and collectivism, β = − .14, t(222) = − 1.99, p < .05.

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This research was funded by the Center for Happiness Studies via the Center for Social Sciences at Seoul National University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Seoul National University, 1, Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Republic of Korea

    Yuri Kwon & Incheol Choi

  2. Center for Happiness Studies, Seoul National University, 1, Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 151-742, Republic of Korea

    Eunsoo Choi & Jongan Choi

  3. Kangwon National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jongan Choi

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  1. Yuri Kwon
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Correspondence to Eunsoo Choi or Incheol Choi.

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The present manuscript is partly based on the master’s thesis submitted by Yuri Kwon to the Department of Psychology at Seoul National University.

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Kwon, Y., Choi, E., Choi, J. et al. Discrepancy Regarding Self, Family, and Country and Well-Being: The Critical Role of Self and Cultural Orientation. J Happiness Stud 20, 2189–2209 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-018-0040-x

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