Unique effects of individualism and collectivism on exposure and reactivity to daily stress

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to use a daily stress and coping methodology to investigate the unique influence of individualism (IND) and collectivism (COL) on exposure and reactivity to daily interpersonal stressors and positive events. COL refers to a self-construal that emphasizes group membership and interdependence with others, whereas IND emphasizes individuality and uniqueness. One hundred ninety-four American college students completed initial measures of IND and COL. For ten consecutive nights, they then completed daily measures of state affect and self-esteem and negative and positive interpersonal and non-interpersonal events via the Internet. As expected, high-COL was related to the more frequent occurrence of positive interpersonal events. ☐ Contrary to predictions, however, COL was unrelated to the occurrence of interpersonal stressors. Also, as predicted, high-COL students, compared to low-COL students, reacted to increases in daily interpersonal positive events with a more dramatic decrease in their daily negative affect. However, COL was unrelated to students' reactivity to daily interpersonal stressors. The findings highlight the value of a daily process methodology and suggest that collectivism influences the daily lives of American college students.