Independent and interdependent conceptions of self: An investigation of age, gender, and culture differences in importance and satisfaction ratings

Measures of the importance of and self-satisfaction with the independent an d interdependent self were used to test age, gender, and culture difference s in the nature of self-conception. The participants were 903 first- or sec ond-year college undergraduates and 936 middle-class adults from four count ries differing markedly in religious, political, and cultural dimensions: H ong Kong, Iran, Russia, and the United States. In both college and adult sa mples from all four countries, the Interdependent self was rated more impor tant and a greater source of satisfaction than the Independent self Analyse s of variance indicated substantial main effects for age and country but a very modest gender effect. However, the interaction effects were also subst antial. The data were interpreted as casting doubt on explanations of the n ature of self-conception in terms of a single cultural dimension, such as I ndividualism-Collectivism or gender. The danger of generalizing about a cou ntry from a single group, such as college students, teas also evident, as w ithin-country differences were consistently found for the adult and student samples.