Individualism-collectivism and depressive sensitivity to life events: the case of Malaysian sojourners

In addressing the mental health of international students, individualism-co llectivism is treated as a dimension of cultural distance that produces dif ferential sensitivity to life events. A collectivist cultural orientation i s hypothesized to promote depressive dysphoria in response to negative soci al events and to increase the inhibitory effect of positive social events. An individualist cultural orientation is hypothesized to promote depressive dysphoria in response to negative achievement-relate events and to increas e the inhibitory effect of positive achievement-related events. A prospecti ve study comparing Malaysian and British students at the same university co nfirmed the predicted cultural differences in sensitivity to social events. Predicted differences for achievement-related events were partially confir med. Malaysian students were also considerably more dysphoric than their Br itish counterparts, as expected. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.