INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND GROUP PROCESSES

Culture and Social Support: Who Seeks It and Why?

Shelley E. Taylor David K. Sherman and Heejung S. Kim

University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Santa Barbara

Johanna Jarcho, Kaori Takagi, and Melissa S. Dunagan

University of California, Los Angeles
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Are Asians and Asian Americans more or less likely to seek social support for dealing with stress than
European Americans? On the one hand, the collectivist orientation of Asian countries might favor the sharing
of stressful problems; on the other hand, efforts to maintain group harmony might discourage such efforts. In
2 studies, Koreans (Study 1) and Asians and Asian Americans in the United States (Study 2) reported using
social support less for coping with stress than European Americans. Study 3 examined potential explanations
for these effects and revealed that relationship concerns accounted for the cultural differences in use of support
seeking. Discussion centers on the potential benefits and liabilities of seeking social support.

Research on stress and coping has shown that one of the most each other. Consequently, decisions to seek social support are
effective means by which individuals cope with stressful events is likely to be affected by these norms and expectations.
through social support. There is substantial evidence showing the Research in cultural psychology has shown that the norms that
benefits of many forms of social support for both mental and govern the nature of relationships differ greatly across cultures.
physical health (Seeman, 1996; Thoits, 1995). To date, however, For example, individuals are encouraged to promote and maintain
there has been little consideration of how the patterns of social their distinctiveness and act according to their own volitions in
relationships that are assumed and practiced in a given sociocul- more independent cultures, such as in North America and Western
tural context affect the use and effectiveness of social support. Europe. In contrast, individuals are encouraged to focus on their
That is, how people decide to solicit and receive support is likely relationships and act to maintain harmony within a group in more
to depend heavily on the nature of the relationships they have with interdependent cultures, such as in East Asia (Markus & Kitayama,
their social networks. Even two equally supportive social networks 1991; Triandis, 1989). These differences in expectations and norms
might differ in the norms that guide interactions and the shared about relationships between a person and the social network are likely
expectations of how a person and the network are connected to to affect how and whether individuals seek and use social support.
Thus, the present research examined cultural differences in how
European Americans and Asians and Asian Americans1 cope with
Shelley E. Taylor, Johanna Jarcho, Kaori Takagi, and Melissa S. Du- stressors by examining to what extent these groups call on their
nagan, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles social support networks in times of stress. Cultural differences in
(UCLA); David K. Sherman and Heejung S. Kim, Department of Psychol- the use of social support may inform an understanding of the
ogy, University of California, Santa Barbara. meaning and measurement of this construct. We addressed two
Kaori Takagi is now at the Department of Psychology, University of primary questions in our cultural analysis of the use of social
British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. support. First, how do cultural backgrounds affect how people use
This research was supported by a UCLA Faculty Senate Grant and a social support? And second, how is the use of social support
UCLA International Studies and Overseas Programs grant to Shelley E. interconnected with cultural norms about relationships?
Taylor. David K. Sherman was supported by National Institute of Mental
Health Training Grant 15750, and Kaori Takagi was supported by National
Science Foundation Grant BCS-9905157. We are grateful to Qian Lu and Research on Social Support
Bimal Rajkomar for their thoughtful insights on these issues.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Shelley Social support is defined as the perception or experience that
E. Taylor, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los An- one is loved and cared for, esteemed and valued, and part of a
geles, 1282A Franz Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90024, or to David K. Sherman
or Heejung S. Kim, Department of Psychology, University of California,
1
Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 91306. E-mail: taylors@[Link], We use Asians and Asian Americans to refer to East Asian and East
[Link]@[Link], or kim@[Link] Asian Americans from Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2004, Vol. 87, No. 3, 354 –362
Copyright 2004 by the American Psychological Association 0022-3514/04/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.87.3.354

354
 CULTURE AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 355

social network of mutual assistance and obligations (Wills, 1991). cations for whether or not they use social support to cope with
Taxonomies of social support have usually examined several stress. Westerners tend to view a person as independent and
forms. Information support occurs when one individual helps separate from other people, whereas Asians tend to view a person
another to understand a stressful event better and to ascertain what as fundamentally connected with others (Markus & Kitayama,
resources and coping strategies may be needed to deal with it. 1991; Shweder & Bourne, 1984; Triandis, 1989). This difference
Instrumental support involves the provision of tangible assistance might lead to the assumption that coping via social support would
such as services, financial assistance, and other specific aid or be especially common among Asians, because they place emphasis
goods. Emotional support involves providing warmth and nurtur- on interconnectedness with their social group. In fact, however, the
ance to another individual and reassuring the person that he or she opposite may be the case.
is a valuable person who is cared about. Social support has long The idea that social support involves specific transactions
been known to mute the experience of stress, enhance well-being, whereby one individual enlists the help of another in service of his
reduce the severity of illness, and speed recovery from health or her problems may be a particularly Western conceptualization
disorders when they do occur (for reviews, see Seeman, 1996; of social support. The independent view of the self that is prevalent
Thoits, 1995). in the Western cultural context holds that individuals take actions
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A large psychological literature demonstrating these beneficial that are oriented toward the expression of their opinions and
effects has typically examined social support in terms of specific beliefs, the realization of their rights, and the achievement of their
transactions involving the seeking and receiving of help in the goals (Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, & Nisbett, 1998; H. Kim &
context of coping with specific stressors (e.g., Lazarus & Folkman, Markus, 1999). The conceptualization of social support in terms of
1984; Wills, 1991). Considerable literature has implied, however, explicit transactions presupposes that it is appropriate to enlist
that social support need not be activated to be helpful. For exam- others in meeting those goals. Thus, stressed individuals may focus
ple, a large sociological literature has examined social support primarily on themselves and their goal of coping with the stress
using structural measures that assess the number of social relation- and recruit the time and attention of others in this process.
ships and roles in which an individual is involved and the structure In contrast, Asians tend to view a person as primarily a rela-
of the interconnections among those relations (Thoits, 1995; Wills, tional entity, interdependent with others. In these cultural contexts,
1998). The fact that social ties are associated with indicators of social relationships, roles, norms, and group solidarity typically are
mental and physical health implies that merely having these ties more fundamental to social behavior than an individual’s needs.
may have benefits. This interdependent view of the self holds that a person should
Moreover, research has suggested that at least under some conform to social norms and respond to group goals by seeking
circumstances, the perception of social support that remains un- consensus and compromise; as such, personal beliefs and needs are
utilized is more beneficial than social support that is actually secondary to social norms and relationships (Fiske et al., 1998; H.
mobilized. For example, Wethington and Kessler (1986) found Kim & Markus, 1999). In Asian cultural contexts, because em-
that perceived social support was a stronger predictor of adjust- phasis is placed on maintaining harmony within the social group,
ment to stressful life events than received support. There are any effort to bring personal problems to the attention of others or
several possible reasons for this finding. These include the fact that enlist their help may risk undermining harmony and/or making
overly intrusive social support may exacerbate stress (Shumaker & inappropriate demands on the group.
Hill, 1991). Efforts to provide support to others may be perceived There is some research on social support transactions and their
as controlling and interfering by the recipient (e.g., Lewis & Rook, effects in Asian countries. The research has largely focused on
1999). The support that a network member provides may be specific stressors, such as managing a mentally retarded child
different from that which is needed (e.g., Thoits, 1986), failing to (Shin, 2002) or caring for an elderly parent (Ng, 2002). Many of
match the needs of the recipient (e.g., Cohen & McKay, 1984; these studies are exploratory surveys that provide descriptions of
Cohen & Wills, 1985). In addition, Bolger, Zuckerman, and support needs without examining cultural influences. Nonetheless,
Kessler (2000) found that when people actually drew on specific several findings are consistent with the above reasoning. Research
members of their social support networks for help during stressful shows that European Americans are more likely to report needing
times, support seeking often served as an additional cause of and receiving social support than are Asians and Asian Americans
distress, because expressing one’s needs to others was esteem (Hsieh, 2000; Shin, 2002; Wellisch et al., 1999). Moreover, one
reducing, and/or drawing on another person for support was per- study (Liang & Bogat, 1994) found that received social support
ceived to tax that other person’s resources, such as time and attention. had negative buffering effects for Asians (i.e., it made Asians feel
Taken together, these findings suggest that as a resource, social more stressed).
support may sometimes be more beneficial in its perception than in
Overview
its use. That is, it may be helpful or comforting to know that there
are others who care for you during times of stress, and this fact Taken together, the above lines of research suggest that people
alone may be more stress reducing than actually making use of from more interdependent cultures may be unlikely to respond to
one’s relationships for specific help or comfort. As we suggest stressors by explicitly enlisting the help of their social support
below, this distinction may be especially relevant to how social networks compared with those from more independent cultures.
support is experienced in different cultures. We sought to test this prediction in a series of studies. Study 1
examined the hypothesis that Asians are less likely to solicit social
Cultural Differences and Social Support support for coping with stress than are European Americans. Using
an open-ended format, we compared the coping strategies reported
Research has suggested reliable cultural differences in how by a sample of Korean college students and a sample of American
people view the self and their relationships that may have impli- college students. Study 2 examined how a U.S. sample of Euro-
 356 TAYLOR ET AL.

pean Americans and Asians and Asian Americans responded to Table 1

academic and social stressors, using a standardized measure of Cultural Differences in Strategies for Coping With Stress in
social support. In both studies, we hypothesized that Asians and Study 1
Asian Americans would rely less on social support for coping with
stressors than European Americans. Study 3 tested whether cul- European Americans Koreans
Coping strategy (n ⫽ 56) (n ⫽ 55)
tural differences in relationship norms could account for this
difference. Using Social Support 57.1 39.3*
Organizing 10.7 10.9
Emotional Relief 8.9 12.7
Study 1 Substance Use 8.9 25.0*
Activities 5.4 16.1†
In Study 1, we examined strategies for coping with stress in a Exercise 42.9 23.2*
sample of Korean college students and a sample of American Entertainment 51.8 50.9
college students, using an open-ended questionnaire. By adopting Self Care 44.6 40.0
an open-ended measure in which people from different cultures
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spontaneously generated responses, we could be certain that the Note. The entries indicate the percentage of participants who reported
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

using the given strategy.

findings would not be a result of demand characteristics and would † p ⬍ .10. * p ⬍ .05.
instead assess the most salient and prevalent means used to cope
with stressful events within each culture.
ings were highly reliable (␬ ⫽ .87). Disagreements in coding were
Method resolved by discussion between coders.
Participants. One hundred twelve participants, ranging in age from 17 Number of responses. The average numbers of coping strate-
to 23 years, took part in the study. Fifty-six European American college gies generated by Korean and European American respondents did
students (23 men and 33 women) from a large California university and 56 not differ. On average, Korean respondents listed 3.29 strategies,
Korean college students (25 men and 31 women) from Seoul, South Korea, and European American respondents listed 3.82 strategies,
filled out the questionnaire. The Korean sample was older (M ⫽ 21.28 t(109) ⫽ 1.53, ns. This lack of difference suggests that respondents
years) than the European American sample (M ⫽ 18.94 years), t(92) ⫽ from both cultures were similarly engaged in the task and that any
7.95, p ⬍ .01.2 Both groups of participants were recruited from psychology culturally divergent patterns of responses were not due to cultural
classes. difference in the propensity to report a large or small number of
Procedure. Participants responded to an open-ended question that
coping strategies.
probed for commonly used coping strategies: “What are the kind of things
Cultural differences in coping strategies. As predicted, there
you do to relieve stress?” This question was originally written in English
and translated into Korean for Korean participants. The questionnaires was a significant cultural difference in Using Social Support.
were administered in classes in the United States and Korea by the Specifically, European Americans (57.1%) were more likely to
instructors, who were unaware of the hypothesis of the study. It took mention Using Social Support as a coping strategy than Koreans
approximately 10 min for participants to fill out the questionnaire. (39.3%), ␹2(1, N ⫽ 111) ⫽ 4.00, p ⬍ .05 (see Table 1).
Once the responses were collected, all responses were transcribed. To Otherwise, the results suggest that spontaneously generated
ensure the accuracy of the translation, a bilingual research assistant trans- coping strategies overlap heavily in Korea and the United States.
lated Korean responses into English, and another bilingual research assis- Most strategies were found in both cultures with at least some
tant translated them back into Korean. After all the responses were tran- regularity. A series of independent chi-square tests revealed that
scribed and translated, the responses were identified only by subject
there were no significant cultural differences in Organizing, Emo-
numbers, so that the cultural origin of responses would not be known to
tional Relief, Entertainment, and Self Care (all ␹2s ⬍ 1).
researchers during development of coding schemes or coding.
We constructed a comprehensive coding scheme based on the responses Korean and American respondents differed significantly in the
generated. Coping strategies generated by respondents were combined use of Exercise and Substance Use, with American respondents
according to conceptual similarities. The combined measures were Orga- (42.9%) mentioning Exercise as a coping strategy more frequently
nizing (organizing, cleaning), Emotional Relief (crying, screaming, laugh- than Korean respondents (23.2%), ␹2(1, N ⫽ 111) ⫽ 4.61, p ⬍ .05,
ing), Substance Use (drinking, smoking), Activities (singing, dancing), and Korean respondents reporting Substance Use (25.0%) more
Exercise (walking, exercising), Entertainment (movie, music, reading), frequently than American respondents (8.9%), ␹2(1, N ⫽ 111) ⫽
Self Care (pampering body, eating, sleeping, relaxing), and Using Social 5.34, p ⬍ .05. To see if the non-use of social support as a coping
Support (talking with others, being with friends, being with family). Each strategy might encourage maladaptive strategies for coping, such
combined category was rated on a binary scale (yes or no) as to whether
as substance use, we intercorrelated the coping strategies. There
each respondent mentioned any of the specific strategies. If a respondent
was a positive rather than a negative correlation among Asians
mentioned at least one of the specific strategies (e.g., being with friends),
it was coded “yes.” Thus, the means in Table 1 and in the Results section between social coping and substance use, r(56) ⫽ .38, p ⫽ .004,
refer to percentage of responses that mentioned the given coping strategy. and also among European Americans, r(56) ⫽ .30, p ⬍ .03,
Two coders (one Korean and one American) who were unaware of the suggesting that both groups were drinking socially to deal with
cultural origin of the responders’ answers coded the responses according to stress. There was also a marginally significant cultural difference
the coding scheme. in Activities, because Korean respondents (16.1%) reported that
they use Activities to relieve stress more often compared with
Results American respondents (5.4%), ␹2(1, N ⫽ 111) ⫽ 3.49, p ⬍ .07.

Coder reliability. The intercoder reliability was high

2
(96.59%). According to Cohen’s coefficient of concordance, cod- There were no significant or suggestive patterns by age.
 CULTURE AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 357

Gender differences were also examined, and the only strategy poor grade on an important piece of work; a course may be too
that showed gender difference was Substance Use: Male respon- difficult; or perhaps you just have too much to do. Think back over the
dents (25%) mentioned it more frequently than female respondents last three months and identify the greatest academic stressor you
(8.9%), ␹2(1, N ⫽ 111) ⫽ 5.34, p ⬍ .05. faced. Describe it briefly in the space below.
After describing each type of stressor, participants completed the Brief
Discussion COPE (Carver, 1997). The Brief COPE measures the use of different
coping strategies in response to stress. These strategies include Emotional
Contrary to an intuitive prediction based on the nature of rela- Support (e.g., “I got comfort and understanding from someone”), Instru-
tionships in independent and interdependent cultures, the present mental Support (e.g., “I tried to get advice or help from other people about
results suggest that people from the interdependent Korean culture what to do”), Planning (e.g., “I tried to come up with a strategy about what
rely on social support for coping with stress less than people from to do”), Active Coping (e.g., “I concentrated my efforts on doing some-
thing about the situation”), Positive Reframing (e.g., “I tried to see it in a
the more independent U.S. culture. However, given that we did not
different light, to make it seem more positive”), Denial (e.g., “I refused to
specify the type of stressors to which the participants were re-
believe that it happened”), Self-Blame (e.g., “I criticized myself”), Behav-
sponding, it is possible that the participants from the different
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

ioral Disengagement (e.g., “I gave up trying to deal with it”), Substance

cultures might have generated the different coping strategies be-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

Use (e.g., “I used alcohol or drugs to make myself feel better”), Self
cause they were thinking about different stressors. Thus, Study 2 Distraction (e.g., “I turned to work on other activities to take my mind off
controlled for the specific stressors and examined whether Asians things”), Religion (e.g., “I tried to find comfort in my religion or spiritual
and Asian Americans and European Americans differed in their beliefs”), Acceptance (e.g., “I accepted the reality of the fact that it
reliance on social support. happened”), and Humor (e.g., “I made jokes about it”) (Carver, 1997).
Because our interest was chiefly in social support, we supplemented the
Brief COPE social support items with additional items from the long form
Study 2 of the COPE (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989). Participants rated each
Study 2 explored these issues in a sample of European Ameri- coping statement in terms of how much they had used it to manage this
stressful event, on 5-point scales. Following the completion of the mate-
cans and Asians and Asian Americans (which included Asian
rials concerning either the social or the academic stressor, participants
immigrants and visiting Asian students) to see if the findings
completed the same packet for the other stressor.
uncovered in Study 1 would be found when individuals were Next, participants rated, on 7-point scales, how successfully resolved the
responding to equivalent stressors. In addition, Study 2 made use stressor was; how much help their family provided in dealing with the
of a standardized coping measure for assessing coping. stressor; how much help their friends provided in dealing with the stressor;
how much their own personal efforts helped them deal with the stressor;
Method and which was more helpful in dealing with the stressor, the help and
support from others or their own personal efforts. At the close of the study,
Participants. The participants were 72 college students from a large participants completed a questionnaire assessing gender, age, cultural
California university (48 women and 24 men) ranging from 18 to 37 years background, and when their family had located to the United States, if at
of age. Twenty-six students came from European American backgrounds, all.
all at least second-generation Americans. Forty-six students came from
Asian backgrounds; 20 were immigrants (average age at immigration ⫽ 6.5 Results
years; China, n ⫽ 5; Japan, n ⫽ 3; Korea, n ⫽ 3; Vietnam, n ⫽ 5; Taiwan,
n ⫽ 3; Indonesia, n ⫽ 1), and 26 were second-generation Asian Americans Preliminary analyses. Each of the top four stressors partici-
with at least one immigrant parent (China, n ⫽ 7; Japan, n ⫽ 2; Korea, n ⫽ pants reported encountering over the past 3 months were coded as
8; Vietnam, n ⫽ 3; Taiwan, n ⫽ 2; Indonesia, n ⫽ 1; Thailand, n ⫽ 3). All academic (e.g., difficult course load, bad grade), social (e.g.,
participants were volunteers. problems with significant other, friends, roommate, family), per-
Materials and procedures. To ascertain if Asians and Asian Americans
sonal (e.g., problems with health, money, concerns about the
and European Americans were experiencing the same types of events as
stressful, participants first completed a questionnaire in which they were
future), and miscellaneous. Mean number of stressors in each
asked, “Think over the past three months. What stressors have you en- category were tested for cultural differences using analysis of
countered? Please list the top four stressors you have experienced during variance. European Americans (M ⫽ 2.15) reported more personal
this time period.” stressors than Asians and Asian Americans (M ⫽ 1.63), F(1, 70) ⫽
Next they were asked to describe the greatest social (or academic) 4.82, p ⬍ .05, but otherwise, there were no significant differences.
stressor they had recently encountered and to complete questions regarding In particular, Asians and Asian Americans and European Ameri-
how they had coped with the stressor. (Each participant rated both types of cans reported the same types of academic and social stressors
stressors, and the order in which social and academic stressors were equally often.3
described and rated was counterbalanced.) For the social stressor, partici- Use of social support. Responses to academic and social stres-
pants read the following:
sors were averaged for the COPE scales and the coping outcome
Most people encounter social stressors on a fairly regular basis. You
might have had roommate problems, difficulties with a boyfriend or 3
girlfriend, conflicts with your parents, a falling out with a friend, or Note that this analysis controls only for type of stressor. We did not
just plain be lonely. Think back over the last three months and identify the administer life events or hassle scales to this sample to address whether the
greatest social stressor you faced. Describe it briefly in the space below. Asians and Asian Americans and European Americans differed in overall
levels of stress. In related research with samples from the same population,
Instructions for the academic stressor read as follows: however, we have found that Asian and Asian American participants report
slightly more stress than European Americans, potentially because they are
Most students encounter academic stressors on a fairly regular basis. coping with more difficult circumstances, such as family pressure to
You might have several papers due at once; perhaps you received a achieve and stressors related to immigration and/or low socioeconomic status.
 358 TAYLOR ET AL.

questions to obtain a single overall coping response score for each Discussion
outcome variable. A composite scale was constructed to assess
reliance on Social Support for Coping (made up of the Emotional Study 2 confirmed the findings of Study 1 in demonstrating that
Support and Instrumental Support subscales from the long form of Asians and Asian Americans reported drawing on social support
the COPE). Consistent with our hypotheses and with the results of less than European Americans for dealing with stressful events.
Study 1, Asians and Asian Americans relied less on social support Cultural differences were stronger for emotional support than for
(M ⫽ 3.02), as measured by the Social Coping composite, than instrumental support. Because respondents from both cultures
European Americans (M ⫽ 3.47), F(1, 70) ⫽ 4.31, p ⬍ .05. This rated the same types of stressors, these findings cannot be ac-
outcome was driven largely by Asians and Asian Americans counted for by differences in the stressful events the respondents
seeking less Emotional Support (M ⫽ 3.08) than European Amer- experienced. Also consistent with the hypothesis, a comparison of
icans (M ⫽ 3.63), F(1, 70) ⫽ 6.65, p ⬍ .02. The trend was in the the Asian nationals and immigrants with the second-generation
same direction for instrumental support, because Asians and Asian Asian Americans found that second-generation Asian Americans
Americans sought it less (M ⫽ 2.97) than European Americans were more likely to turn to their families for social support in
(M ⫽ 3.31), albeit nonsignificantly, F(1, 70) ⫽ 1.87, ns. Consis- coping with stress. This may be due to social norms, as we
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

consider below, or it may also be that the parents of second-

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tent with the cultural pattern, Asians and Asian Americans re-
ported receiving less help from their family for dealing with generation Asian Americans are in a better position to provide help
stressors (M ⫽ 2.53) than did European Americans (M ⫽ 3.83), than is true for the Asian immigrants and Asian nationals.
F(1, 70) ⫽ 11.94, p ⫽ .001 (see Table 2). Unexpectedly, and in contrast to Study 1, European Americans
The idea that Asian cultural norms discourage the explicit use of reported using planning and active coping more than Asians and
social support leads to the prediction of differences by generational Asian Americans, and Asians and Asian Americans used accep-
status in the use of social support, such that Asian nationals and tance more. Men used more positive reframing for coping with
immigrants may report less use of social support compared with stress compared with women.
later generation Asian Americans. Consistent with this prediction, The question arises as to what accounts for the cultural differ-
Asian Americans reported more help from their family in coping ences in the use of social support for coping. We suggest above
with stress (M ⫽ 2.98) than did Asian nationals and immigrants that cultural differences in norms regarding relationships may be
(M ⫽ 1.95), F(1, 44) ⫽ 6.89, p ⬍ .02. implicated. To identify exactly what those norms are and to pro-
There were other cultural differences in coping that were not vide a basis for testing their mediational role in the use of social
found in Study 1 and hence were unanticipated (see Table 2). support for coping, we conducted a pilot study.
European Americans relied more on planning (M ⫽ 4.06) than did
Asians and Asian Americans (M ⫽ 3.38), F(1, 70) ⫽ 15.57, p ⬍ Pilot Study 3a
.01. European Americans also used active coping strategies (M ⫽
4.17) for coping with stressors to a greater extent than did Asians To gain greater understanding of the cultural differences in the
and Asian Americans (M ⫽ 3.59), F(1, 70) ⫽ 15.00, p ⬍ .01. use of social support coping strategies, we conducted two focus
Asians and Asian Americans used acceptance (M ⫽ 3.92) for groups with Asian and Asian American and European American
coping with stressors more than European Americans (M ⫽ 3.49), participants. The first group included 24 undergraduate partici-
F(1, 70) ⫽ 6.24, p ⬍ .02. In terms of gender differences, when pants, 14 European Americans and 10 Asians and Asian Ameri-
faced with a stressor, men tended to use positive reframing strat- cans. The Asian American group included 5 Asian nationals
egies (M ⫽ 3.27) more than women (M ⫽ 2.82), F(1, 70) ⫽ 4.51, (China/Taiwan, n ⫽ 2; Cambodia, n ⫽ 1; Philippines, n ⫽ 1;
p ⬍ .05. Japan, n ⫽ 1) and 5 second-generation Asian Americans (Chinese/
Taiwanese, n ⫽ 3; Thai, n ⫽ 1; Japanese, n ⫽ 1). The second focus
group consisted of 9 participants, 4 of European American back-
ground and 5 of Asian and Asian American background (2 from
Table 2
China and 1 each from Korea, Japan, and India). In each group, the
Cultural Differences on COPE Subscales in Study 2
participants were told about the findings of the first two studies, and
Asians and Asian European group members were asked to discuss reasons that might underlie
Subscale Americans Americans the observed cultural differences. We asked the groups to focus in
particular on what might account for the lesser use of social
Social Coping 3.02 3.47* support by Asians and Asian Americans for coping with stress.
Emotional Support 3.08 3.63*
Instrumental Support 2.97 3.31
From the discussions, several explanations were generated that
Planning 3.38 4.06** might account for Asians’ and Asian Americans’ lesser use of
Active Coping 3.59 4.17** social support for coping: (a) the desire to maintain group har-
Positive Reframing 2.95 3.01 mony— harmony would be undermined by imposing one’s per-
Denial 1.34 1.23 sonal problems on others; (b) a belief that telling others of one’s
Self-Blame 2.59 2.72
Behavioral Disengagement 1.91 1.68 problems would make the problems worse, because others will
Substance Use 1.46 1.60 become overly concerned about them; (c) concern that sharing
Self Distraction 3.01 2.84 problems would result in criticism and poor evaluations by others;
Religion 1.93 1.62 (d) the desire to save face and avoid feeling embarrassed; and (e)
Acceptance 3.92 3.49*
Humor 2.66 3.02
the cultural belief that each person has an obligation to others to
discharge his or her own responsibilities and/or correct his or her
* p ⬍ .05. ** p ⬍ .001. mistakes rather than placing that burden on others.
 CULTURE AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 359

Study 3 Results and Discussion

Drawing on these pilot data, we designed a third study to Study 3 sought first to replicate the findings of Studies 1 and 2,
examine whether these explanations account for the cultural dif- that Asians and Asian Americans would report using social sup-
ferences in Studies 1 and 2. Study 3 replicated the procedures of port less for coping than European Americans. As predicted,
Study 2 and instructed Asians and Asian Americans and European Asians and Asian Americans reported using less instrumental
Americans to report how they had coped with a recent social social support (as assessed by the instrumental coping items on the
stressor. We predicted that as in previous studies, Asians and COPE) to deal with their stressor (M ⫽ 3.47) than European
Asian Americans would be less likely to report using social sup- Americans (M ⫽ 3.87), t(155) ⫽ 2.31, p ⫽ .02, and less emotional
port than European Americans. We assessed the reasons for this support (M ⫽ 3.46) than did European Americans (M ⫽ 3.79),
pattern through a questionnaire that was constructed around the t(155) ⫽ 2.03, p ⫽ .04.
responses outlined above. We also examined whether there were generational differences
in Asians’ and Asian Americans’ tendency to use social support
for coping. Averaging across the social support items, we com-
Method
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pared Asian immigrants (M ⫽ 3.28) with U.S.-born Asian Amer-

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Participants. Participants were 157 college students (101 women and icans (M ⫽ 3.52) and European Americans (M ⫽ 3.87), F(2,
56 men) ranging from 20 to 25 years old. Fifty students were from a small 142) ⫽ 3.56, p ⬍ .05. As the means suggest, there was a trend such
California liberal arts college, and 107 were from a large California that Asian immigrants were less likely than U.S.-born Asians to
university. Sixty-five students came from European American back- draw on social support for coping with stress; however, only the
grounds, and 92 students came from Asian backgrounds (predominantly
Asian and Asian American versus European American compari-
Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Filipino): 23 were immigrants,
49 were second generation, and 16 were later generation. Four participants
sons are significantly different. Unlike Study 2, there were no
did not report their generational status. Participants were recruited individ- cultural differences in other coping strategies.
ually or in small groups and asked to complete questionnaires concerning Next we examined whether there are cultural differences in
how they had coped with a recent stressor. All participants were volunteers relationship norms that might account for why Asians and Asian
who earned credit for their psychology classes for participation. Americans use social support less than European Americans. Our
Materials and procedures. The first part of the study was identical to 38 items had a very high internal reliability (␣ ⫽ .96). Thus, our
Study 2. Participants completed a questionnaire packet in which they were five categories of explanation were all highly intercorrelated. Ta-
first asked, “Think over the past three months. What stressors have you ble 3 illustrates the means for the five categories of relationship
encountered? Please list the top four stressors you have experienced during norms, as well as their alpha levels. Significant cultural differences
this time period.” Next they were asked to describe the greatest social
emerged for all five. Specifically, compared with European Amer-
stressor they had recently encountered. After describing the social stressor,
participants completed the Brief COPE, supplemented with the social
icans, Asians and Asian Americans were significantly more likely
coping items from the long version of the COPE, as in Study 2. Participants to report that seeking social support would disrupt group harmony,
rated each coping statement on 5-point scales in terms of how much they sharing problems would make one’s problems worse, one has a
had used that strategy to manage the stressful event. responsibility to solve one’s own problems, others may not under-
Next, participants completed a questionnaire designed to assess factors stand one’s problems, and sharing problems would elicit criticism
that might act to discourage the use of social support for coping. Partici- and/or cause one to lose face.
pants responded to the following prompt: Next, to determine whether there were any differential latent
factors that accounted for the cultural variation explanations for
Some people seek social support and help from friends and family
the non-use of social support, we conducted a factor analysis using
when they are trying to cope with a stressor, while others choose not
to seek social support. Please rate how important each of several
a principal-components analysis for the extraction of factors. Two
concerns would be for you in deciding whether or not to seek or use interpretable factors emerged. The first factor had an eigenvalue of
social support or help from others in dealing with a stressor like the 15.56 and accounted for 40.95% of the variance. The second factor
one you just named. had an eigenvalue of 2.70 and accounted for 7.10% of the variance.
To help interpret the factors, we correlated each factor with our
Participants then rated 38 items we constructed to map onto the five five categories of explanation. The first factor is highly correlated
explanations described above.
This questionnaire assessed each of the categories of explanation offered
by our Asian and Asian American respondents for why they might avoid
seeking social support for coping with stressors: preserving the harmony of Table 3
the social group (hereafter referred to as Harmony; e.g., “If something were Cultural Differences in Explanations for Non-Use of Social
bothering me, I would not want to disrupt my social group by sharing it.”); Support in Study 3
belief that telling others would make the problem worse (Make Worse; e.g.,
“I would rather not tell the people I am close to my problems because they Asians and Asian European
would blow them out of proportion”); concern that sharing problems would Explanation Americans Americans
result in criticism or poor evaluations by others (Criticism; e.g., “I would
rather keep my problems to myself than risk criticism from the people I am Harmony (␣ ⫽ .88) 2.65 2.05**
close to”); desire to save face and avoid embarrassment (Save Face; e.g., Make Worse (␣ ⫽ .85) 2.26 1.88**
Criticism (␣ ⫽ .86) 2.29 1.82**
“It is better to keep one’s concerns to one’s self, rather than lose face in
Save Face (␣ ⫽ .89) 2.51 2.03**
front of the people I am close to”); and the cultural belief that each person Self-Reliance (␣ ⫽ .89) 3.12 2.54**
has an obligation to discharge his or her own responsibilities and correct
mistakes (Self-Reliance; e.g., “I wouldn’t tell my problems to the people I Note. Alpha levels refer to the reliability of the specific subscale.
am close to because I’m responsible for solving them on my own”). ** p ⬍ .01.
 360 TAYLOR ET AL.

with all five explanations (rs ⫽ .74 –.90, all ps ⬍ .001), and hence Americans. The results also show that Asians and Asian Ameri-
we call it relationship concerns. The second factor is most highly cans are less likely to seek social support because they are con-
positively correlated with self-reliance (r ⫽ .39, p ⬍ .01) and most cerned about the possible relational ramifications of seeking sup-
highly negatively correlated with fear of criticism (r ⫽ ⫺.36, p ⬍ port, such as disturbing the harmony of the group, losing face,
.01). Thus, this factor represents independence concerns. receiving criticism, and making the situation worse.
Both relationship concerns and independence concerns could
plausibly explain why Asians were less likely to rely on social
support. That is, it may be that Asians do not seek social support General Discussion
because they are concerned about the effect it would have on their
relationships, such as causing them to lose face or disturbing the Characterizations of Asian cultures as interdependent and West-
harmony of the group. However, it may also be that Asians do not ern cultures as independent might seem to suggest that Asians and
seek social support because they are primarily concerned with Asian Americans would be more likely to enlist the help of their
solving problems themselves independently and are less concerned social support network in coping with stress, because the self is
with the views of others. On the basis of our analysis of the social viewed as fundamentally connected to others (Markus &
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Kitayama, 1991; Triandis, 1989). Similarly, there are compelling

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norms of relationships in each culture, we predicted that relation-

ship concerns would account for the effect of culture on seeking reasons to believe that European Americans would be less likely to
social support. call on their support networks in times of stress, because in
We examined whether relationship concerns or independence independent cultures, the self is seen as fundamentally separate
concerns could account for the cultural differences in use of social from others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991); hence, those from inde-
support. To do so, we conducted a series of regression analyses pendent cultures might perceive that they have a personal respon-
(following the mediational analysis format of Baron & Kenny, sibility to solve problems individually and not through the assis-
1986), in which culture (European American vs. Asian and Asian tance of others. In contrast to these seemingly self-evident
American) was one predictor and use of social support for coping predictions, the present research revealed exactly the opposite
was the outcome. We then entered each of the potential explana- pattern.
tions into the regression as a predictor to see whether it would In three studies, we found that Asians in their home countries
account for the variance explained by the cultural differences. In and Asians and Asian Americans in the United States reported
the first step of the regression analysis, culture was a significant making less use of social support for coping with stress than
predictor of social coping, ␤(153) ⫽ ⫺.18, p ⫽ .02. Next we European Americans. In Study 3, we explored the reasons under-
examined whether culture predicted each of the potential explana- lying these effects and found that cultural norms regarding rela-
tions. Culture significantly predicted relationship concerns, tionships accounted for the cultural differences in use of social
␤(153) ⫽ .32, p ⬍ .01. However, culture did not significantly support. East Asian cultural norms appear to discourage the active
predict independence concerns, ␤(153) ⫽ .08, ns. Finally, we engagement of one’s social support network for help in solving
examined whether relationship concerns would reduce the direct problems or for coping with stress.
link between culture and social coping. When both relationship This counterintuitive cultural pattern may be explained in terms
concerns and culture were entered simultaneously as predictors, of how individuals from different cultures value the goals of the
the relationship concerns factor was significant, ␤(153) ⫽ ⫺.45, self in relation to the goals of relationships. In individual cultural
p ⬍ .01, and culture was no longer significant, ␤(153) ⫽ ⫺.04, ns contexts, relationships may be seen as means for promoting indi-
(see Figure 1). The Sobel test for significance in the reduction of vidual goals, and as such, one may recruit explicit help or aid from
the direct path was significant (z ⫽ ⫺3.46, p ⬍ .01). Independence those in one’s social networks in order to achieve one’s personal
concerns did not account for the relationship between culture and goals. In collectivist cultural contexts, individual goals may be
social coping, because when both were entered into the regression, seen as a means for promoting relationships. Pursuing the goals of
culture remained significant, ␤(152) ⫽ ⫺.19, p ⫽ .02, but the the self may risk straining relationships if one calls on his or her
independence concerns factor was not significant, ␤(152) ⫽ social support network for aid (Markus, Mullally, & Kitayama,
.06, ns. 1997). Thus, a person from an interdependent country may feel
In sum, the results from Study 3 replicated the pattern of that he or she has less to gain personally than he or she can lose
findings from earlier studies, showing that Asians and Asian socially by calling on others for help. That is, if pursuing the goals
Americans are less likely to seek social support than European of relationships is primary, then a person may prefer not to burden
the social network and to solve problems individually instead.
Thus, cultural differences in the relative weight of the self’s goals
and goals with respect to relationships may produce cultural dif-
ferences in whether a person copes with stressors by enlisting the
help of the social support network (Markus et al., 1997).
Each of the identified cultural patterns may have its respective
benefits and liabilities. Extracting explicit support, as European
Americans commonly do, may yield emotional solace and concrete
information relevant to coping, but it can also be associated with
costs. Explicitly drawing on the help of others may reduce self-
esteem and/or it may lead to emotional distress over taxing the
Figure 1. Relationship between culture and social coping as mediated by resources of others (cf. Bolger et al., 2000). Research has sug-
relationship concerns. *p ⬍ .05. **p ⬍ .01. gested that social support that remains unused can be more bene-
 CULTURE AND SOCIAL SUPPORT 361

ficial than social support that is actually recruited for coping with such that Koreans were more likely to report using such substances
stress (Wethington & Kessler, 1986). for coping. In addition to reporting greater use of social support for
By not explicitly eliciting social support from others for help in coping with stress, European Americans also reported high levels
coping with stress, are Asians and Asian Americans potentially of individual coping methods, such as active coping and planning
depriving themselves of a valuable resource that has demonstrable (Study 2 only). In the coping literature, substance use has been
beneficial effects on well-being and health? For Asians and Asian generally been regarded as a poor method of coping with stress,
Americans, the failure to explicitly engage support networks may whereas social and individual coping strategies have been regarded
not, in fact, be particularly costly. As noted, the mere perception of as more adaptive coping strategies. Although this could in itself be
having socially supportive networks has long been known to be construed as a cultural bias in evaluations of what constitutes good
stress reducing, even when the social support network is not or poor coping strategies, it is important to note that substance use
explicitly mobilized for dealing with stress (Thoits, 1995). Asians has been tied to hard health and mental health outcomes, such as
and Asian Americans may especially experience their social sup- an increased likelihood of psychological distress or health prob-
port from the recognition of being part of a harmonious, interde- lems in response to stress. Potentially, then, the coping patterns
pendent community to which they have responsibilities and obli- observed among the Asians and Asian Americans may have mal-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
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gations. Thus, the yield of social support may not necessarily be adaptive implications for health and mental health (cf. O’Connor
less for Asians and Asian Americans than is true for European & Shimizu, 2002). Recall, however, that substance abuse and social
Americans; the form may simply differ. On the other hand, there coping were positively correlated both among the Korean and the
may be some costs of not explicitly engaging one’s social support European American samples of Study 1. Thus, substance abuse may
network in times of stress as well. Some of the benefits of utilized be consistent with, and not an alternative to, social coping.
social support are quite real, such as tangible aid, information of
which one was unaware, and suggestions as to how to cope that Limitations
one might not think of on one’s own. Not seeking social support
may deprive a person of these benefits. There are limitations of the studies that bear mention. The Asian
In this context, it is useful to note that mental health practitio- respondents in the three studies came heavily from Korea and
ners have long expressed concern that interventions to provide China/Taiwan, and so the findings may not generalize to other
counseling and other forms of social support to those going Asian countries. Moreover, there are likely to be other cultural
through traumatic or stressful events have difficulty attracting variations in the use of social support for coping that are not
Asian and Asian American participants (Futa, Hsu, & Hansen, addressed by the current analysis. For example, Latin and Medi-
2001; Herrick & Brown, 1998; Matsuoka, Breaux, & Ryujin, terranean interdependent cultural norms may not act to discourage
1997). Yet studies of social support have attested to the benefits social support use for coping in the same ways that are true of
that such interventions can have for Asians as well as Westerners Asian cultural norms. A second limitation is that all three studies
(O. Kim, 1999; Noh & Avison, 1996; Park, 2001; Stopes-Roe & assessed respondents’ reports of how they coped rather than observing
Cochrane, 1990). The present research is enlightening as to poten- respondents’ coping behaviors. Although virtually all studies of cop-
tial cultural factors that may account for Asians’ lesser use of these ing share this weakness, it nonetheless remains a weakness.
services (Park, 2001). There were also some inconsistencies in reported coping across
In a similar vein, research on self-disclosure has demonstrated the the three studies. Most striking is the fact that in Study 2, European
positive health and psychological benefits that can occur from talking Americans reported using individual coping methods (planning,
about one’s problems (Silver, Boon, & Stones, 1983). For example, active coping) significantly more than Asian Americans, but this
talking about an upsetting experience has been found to be beneficial was not found in Studies 1 or 3. Because the samples in Studies 2
in terms of both physical and mental health (for a review, see Pen- and 3 were similar and the problems reported were similar as well,
nebaker, 1999). Are Asians less likely to benefit from such interven- there is not an obvious reason for this discrepancy.4 However, the
tions? It is important to note that these studies were conducted in a sample sizes were relatively small, and it is possible that the
Western cultural context that values verbal expression (H. S. Kim & discrepant results may be due to sampling variability.
Markus, 2002). It is possible that in a cultural context that does not
value expression to the same extent, disclosing one’s problems could Conclusions
be associated with negative outcomes. Cultures differ in the value
they place on talking (H. S. Kim & Markus, 2002). Where in Amer- In conclusion, our research highlights the importance of con-
ican culture talking is seen as clarifying one’s thinking in dealing with sidering culture in order to understand why and how people seek
problems, in East Asian cultures, talking is seen as a disturbance from the advice and comfort of others when facing stressors. It reveals
thinking (H. S. Kim, 2002). Talking about one’s problems in this East that there are significant cultural differences in the use of an
Asian cultural context could be seen as amplifying problems rather important resource for managing stressful events, namely, social
than solving them. Writing about stressful events, however, has also support. Whereas European Americans explicitly recruit their so-
been shown to be a therapeutic tool with mental and physical health cial networks for help and solace in coping with stressful events,
benefits (Lepore & Smyth, 2003). This form of expression may have Asians and Asian Americans do so to a lesser extent. Our research
fewer, if any, cultural norms that discourage its use and thus may
potentially be helpful as a means of managing stress, regardless of 4
Internal analyses showed that the Asians and Asian Americans from
cultural origin. the liberal arts college were more likely to use individual coping than the
We uncovered other cultural differences in the use of coping European Americans from the same college, but the European Americans
strategies. In Study 1, significant cultural differences were found from the university were more likely to use individual coping than the
in substance use for coping with stress (e.g., smoking, alcohol), Asians and Asian Americans from the university.
 362 TAYLOR ET AL.

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