Article in Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · April 014 doi: 10. 1177/0022022113520074 citations 30 reads 327 authors
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| p < .001), followed by optimism (β = .18, p < .001) and religious strength (β = −.10, p < .05). Nation variable was marginally significant (β = −.10, p < .06). That is, being a woman, higher optimism, stronger religious belief, and possibly being American were associated with higher levels of PTG, demonstrating that the second hypothesis was supported. Hypothesis 3: Roles of Subjective Perceptions of the Event and Individual Differences Variables in PTG Domains in the American and Japanese Samples Third hypothesis was that the role of individual differences variables and individuals perceptions of the triggering event in PTG will vary across nations and PTG domains. Prior to testing the hypotheses, descriptive statistics were evaluated. A nation-level analysis showed that there are cross-national differences in the level of optimism and pessimism American participants were more optimistic (M = 2.56; SD = 0.88) and less pessimistic (M = 1.61, SD = 0.98) than Japanese participants (M = 1.95, SD = 0.78; M = 1.93, SD = 0.73), t(642) = 8.71, p < .001, and t(642) = −4.18, p < .001, respectively. Because the PTGI domains were not equivalent across nations, a series of multiple regression analyses were performed to test the following set of hypotheses: (a) higher optimism and perceiving the event as having a direct impact would be significantly correlated with greater growth in the American and Japanese samples; (b) gender would play a significant role in all PTG domains in the American sample, whereas gender would not play a significant role in PTG domains in the Japanese sample; and (c) stronger religious beliefs would predict growth in the Spiritual Change domain only in the American sample. Significance of the predictors was set at p < .01 to reduce experiment-wise Type I error. at OAKLAND UNIV on April 9, 2014 jcc.sagepub.com Downloaded from 610 Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 45(4) In the American sample, the overall model explaining the Relating to Others PTG domain was significant, F(6, 386) = 8.12, p < .001, R 2 = .11, adjusted R 2 = .10. As shown in Table 2, subjective perceptions of the triggering event and gender were the significant predictors. That is, being female, the event being perceived as accidental, and the event being perceived as something that happened indirectly to them were associated with higher level of growth in this domain. The model explaining the New Possibilities domain was also significant, although R 2 was rather small, F(6, 383) = 3.28, p < .01, R 2 = .05, adjusted R 2 = .03. Unlike the Relating to Others domain, those who perceived the event happening deliberately reported greater growth in this domain. The model explaining the Personal Strength was significant as well, F(6, 384) = 7.05, p < .001. R 2 = .10, adjusted R 2 = .09. Compared with the other models, none of the subjective perceptions of the triggering event were associated with the growth scores in this domain. Only individual differences variables (gender and optimism) were significant predictors. The model for the Spiritual Change showed the highest coefficient of determination, F(6, 388) = 26.67, p < .001, R 2 = .28, adjusted R 2 = .27, indicating that the strength of religious beliefs was strongly associated with the growth scores in this domain. Finally, the model for Appreciation of Life also explained significant variance, F(6, 386) = 5.29, p < .001, R 2 = .08, adjusted R 2 = .06. Subjective perceptions of the event and gender significantly predicted the growth scores. Being female and the event being perceived as something that happened indirectly to them were associated with higher levels of growth in this domain. In the Japanese sample, the model for the Relating to Others was significant however, the coefficient of determination was rather small, F(6, 196) = 2.53, p < .05, R 2 = .07, adjusted R 2 = .05. As seen in Table 3, optimism was the only significant predictor. As with the American sample, higher optimism was associated with higher level of growth in this domain. The model for the New Possibilities, F(6, 197) = 7.14, p < .001, R 2 = .18, adjusted R 2 = .16, showed that the subjective perceptions of the event, in addition to optimism, significantly explained the growth scores. Those who perceived the event happening directly reported greater growth in this domain. The model for the Personal Strength, F(6, 197) = 6.22, p < .001, R 2 = .16, adjusted R 2 = .14, indicated that being female and higher optimism were associated with higher growth in this domain. Finally, the model for the culture-specific combined factor (Spiritual Change and Appreciation of Life) also yielded a significant result, F(6, 197) = 4.81, p < .001, R 2 = .13, adjusted R 2 = .11. The only significant predictor was the subjective perception of the event. In contrast to the model for New Possibilities, those who perceived the event happening indirectly Download 463.33 Kb. Share with your friends:
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