Cross-cultural difference in subjective wellbeing : cultural response bias as an explanation
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Social Indicators Research
Publication Date
11-1-2013
Volume
114
Issue
2
First Page
607
Last Page
619
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Keywords
Cultural response bias, Life domains, Life satisfaction as a whole, Personal wellbeing index, Subjective wellbeing
Abstract
This study investigates whether the Australian-Chinese differences in subjective wellbeing (SWB) can be attributed to cultural response bias (CRB) caused by the influence of Chinese culture. Four samples are compared: Australians, first generation Chinese immigrants, second generation Chinese immigrants, and Hong Kong Chinese. It is hypothesized that the effects of CRB on means scores and variance will be the highest for Hong Kong Chinese, followed by Australian Chinese immigrants and second generation, and the lowest for Australians. These predictions were generally supported. Income is used as a covariate to test whether the predicted pattern of results remain unchanged. The result was affirmative. CRB is thus verified as contributing to the SWB difference between the Australians and Hong Kong Chinese. The implications of these findings are discussed.
DOI
10.1007/s11205-012-0164-z
Print ISSN
03038300
E-ISSN
15730921
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Lai, L. C. H., Cummins, R. A., & Lau, A. L. D. (2013). Cross-cultural difference in subjective wellbeing: Cultural response bias as an explanation. Social Indicators Research, 114(2), 607-619. doi: 10.1007/s11205-012-0164-z