Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Nonpsychotic postpartum depression is common in Western culture, but is not widely recognized in Japan. This study investigated the extent of milder postpartum depression in the United States and Japan, and the factors contributing to milder postpartum depression. A total of 21 American and 29 Japanese mothers of newborns filled out the Pitt (1968) Depression Scale and a questionnaire on their backgrounds, feeding style, nighttime sleep loss, contact with adults, life events, social support, women's role concepts, and orientation to work. There were no cross-cultural differences in their depression scores. However, regression equations showed significant differences in the factors contributing to depression. The results are discussed in terms of the cultural differences contributing to depression.

McClintock, Bayard, and McClintock (1983) argue that the more competitive and less cooperative orientation of Anglo-American versus Mexican American children is a product of underlying cultural differences in mediating familial factors such as interdependence, size, and delegation of authority, as well as peer exposure. The cultural distinction between Western and Middle Eastern Jews in Israel displays parallel differences in these socialization factors, thereby offering an opportunity for cross-cultural validation of their model. Knight and Kagan's (1977a) social behavior scale was completed by a sample of 480 students, balanced for ethnicity (Western/ Middle Eastern), age (10-11 / 16-17 years), and ecology (urban/ rural). The central finding was that Middle Easterners were more cooperative than Westerners in rural settings, but not in urban ones. Discussion focused on differential pace of acculturation among rural Middle Easterners and the implication of ethnic differences for educational programming.

A total of 28 Spanish-speaking and 17 English-speaking Mexican American couples were interviewed to assess their perceptions of the stereotypes that they believed ascribed to them by Anglo-Americans. Additionally, the degree of the subjects' perceptions was examined as a function of subject gender, level of education, language spoken, and ethnic self-identification. In general, the subjects perceived the stereotypes ascribed to them by Anglo-Americans to be negative. The variable "education" was found to distinguish significantly (p < .01) subjects' perceptions of Anglo stereotypes toward Mexican Americans; with the less educated subjects perceiving themselves to be stereotyped more negatively by the larger Anglo society. Directions for future research are suggested.

A set of 701 stories generated by 80 Chinese and 80 American children was content analyzed, and submitted to a factor analysis that yielded four factors common to both groups, one unique factor for the Chinese sample and two for the American sample. A stepwise discriminant function analysis of the common factors indicated significant differences between Chinese and American children, and significant sex differences in the American sample only. The results support the hypotheses that Chinese stories evidence greater social orientation, greater concern with authority and with moral-ethical rectitude, and greater saliency of the role of natural forces and chance, and contain more affective elements, fewer instances of physical aggression, and less economic orientation. The results are taken to reflect cultural differences, which in turn are the result of myriad aspects, from differential child rearing to differing sociopolitical climates.

This investigation assesses the perceived decision-making roles of Mexican American wives in the purchase of 10 different goods and services and their relation to the acculturation process. Acculturation was operationalized in three different ways. One employed role-relevant attitudinal measures; the others used reading language preference and television language preference. Perceived decision dominance was shown to be related to all three.

Assertive and aggressive behaviors may occur in marketplace exchanges, and measures of these behaviors have been developed in the United States. The appropriateness of these measures for use in other developed Western cultures was studied by examining functional/ conceptual and scalar equivalence of the measures in the Netherlands. An acceptable level of equivalence was found for the aggression construct and measure; however, some inequivalence for assertiveness was demonstrated. Assertive behaviors that involve seeking redress for marketplace problems were seen as more aggressive in the Netherlands than in the United States, and data suggested that assertive behaviors may be more location-specific in the Netherlands.