CULTURAL DIMENSIONS, GENDER, AND THE NATURE OF SELF-CONCEPT - A 14-COUNTRY STUDY

Ratings of the importance of and satisfaction with 20 areas of the sel f were obtained from 3604 first or second year social science undergra duates from 14 countries (15 cultures). Factor analysis at the culture by gender level supported four factors for both sets of ratings. The resulting factor scores were analyzed for mean differences according t o the cultural dimension of Individualism-Collectivism by Gender and b y correlations with other cultural dimenions and economic indicators. It was found that participants from the 10 collectivist cultures place d greater salience for their self-concepts on ''family values'' than d id those from the individualist cultures. However, this cultural diffe rence was not found for ''social relationships''. The expected gender differences, with females valuing ''family values'' and ''social relat ionships'' more highly, were found only for the individualist countrie s. The findings indicate that there may be a strong cultural level int eraction effect between gender and Individualism-Collectivism on the n ature of self-conceptions, and that the ''family'' and ''social'' aspe cts of self-concept in collectivist countries need to be considered se parately.