Authenticity, Social Context, and Well-Being in the United States, England, and Russia: A Three Country Comparative Analysis

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 2013. Vol. 44. No. July. P. 719–737.

Robinson O., Lopez F., Ramos K., Nartova-Bochaver Sofya

The study investigated interrelationships among trait authenticity, context-specific authenticity,

and well-being in three samples drawn from England, the United States, and Russia. Six hundred and

twenty-eight adults participated: 196 from the United States, 240 from England, and 192 from Russia.

The overall sample consisted of 151 men and 477 women with a mean age of 27 years (range

= 18 to 56). Authenticity was rated both as a general trait and specific to four contexts: with

partner, parents, friends, and work colleagues. Well-being was measured using a measure of positive

mental health. English and American samples showed higher mean authenticity levels than

the Russian sample. In all three subsamples, within-subjects differences in the context-specific

ratings were in the same ordinal series; authenticity was rated highest with partner, followed by

friends and parents, and lowest with work colleagues. Context and country showed an interaction

in their effect on authenticity; United States and England were higher than Russia in partner,

friend, and parent contexts but not in the work context. Trait and context-specific authenticity

measures contributed unique and significant variance to a prediction of well-being in all three

subsamples.

Keywords: социальные отношения, gender differences, аутентичность, personality, personality (человек, личность), well-being, благополучие, authenticity, social relationships, половые различия