magazine issue 10 2009 / Issue 10

Culture and Health Psychology: Insights from a Socio-Cultural Perspective

• written by Ayse K. Uskul & David Sherman
• edited by Selin Kesebir

This interaction between cultural group and form of social support has been shown in a number of studies, including one demonstrating the beneficial effects of culturally appropriate forms of social support and the harmful effects of culturally inappropriate forms of social support at the physiological level (Taylor, Welch, Kim & Sherman, 2007). Asian Americans experienced lower levels of cortisol, a hormone usually referred to as the "stress hormone" as it is secreted in higher levels during body’s response to stress, during an acute laboratory stressor when they sought implicit rather than explicit support, whereas European Americans experienced lower cortisol levels when they sought explicit rather than implicit support. An online diary study shows that European Americans reported using explicit social support in coping with their daily stressors to a greater extent than do Koreans; Koreans reported using implicit social support to a greater extent than do European Americans (Kim et al., 2008). These findings point to the importance of exploring what social support means and its effects in different cultural groups.

A recent set of studies further underlines the need to test health-related findings in Western groups against those in groups of other cultural backgrounds. Uchida, Kitayama, Mesquita, Reyes, and Morling (2008) explored the relationship between emotional support and well-being and physical health. In their initial study of college students, a positive effect of perceived emotional support on subjective well-being was found to be weak among Euro-Americans; it disappeared when self-esteem was statistically controlled. In contrast, among Japanese and Filipinos, perceived emotional support positively predicted subjective well-being, even after self-esteem was controlled. The authors extended these findings in a second study with an adult sample using different well-being and physical health measures; in this study, perceived emotional support positively predicted well-being and health for Japanese adults, but such effects were virtually absent for American adults. Note that unlike the studies reviewed earlier showing the detrimental effects amongst Asians and Asian Americans of social support seeking (Kim et al., 2008), these studies show the beneficial effects of perceived support (i.e., support that was not necessarily asked for). As these studies illustrate, cultures vary in the impact of perceived emotional support on well-being and physical health.