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Defining relationships: Comparing Canadians, Chinese and Indians
Author(s) -
Li Han Z.,
Bhatt Gira,
Zhang Zhi,
Pahal Jasrit,
Cui Yanping
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
asian journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.5
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-839X
pISSN - 1367-2223
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-839x.2006.00203.x
Subject(s) - closeness , social psychology , psychology , china , sample (material) , asian indian , demography , developmental psychology , sociology , geography , mathematics , mathematical analysis , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , population
To examine whether cultural differences exist in defining family, friend, relative, colleague and neighbour, non‐student samples were drawn from Canada, China and India. The data generated several unexpected findings. (i) The means of the relationship definitions between the Chinese and Canadians were not significantly different. The means between the Chinese and Indians were significantly different. The means between the Canadians and Indians were significantly different. (ii) Females defined their relationships more interdependently than males in the Indian and Canadian samples but not in the Chinese sample. (iii) Definitions were target specific and the order of closeness differed from group to group. (iv) In the Indian and Chinese samples, participants’ age was negatively correlated with closeness in defining friends, indicating that a person’s perceived closeness with friends changes over the life span. Results of past research using student samples need to be interpreted with caution.