Independent/interdependent self-construal and psychological stress : Junior high school students

Abstract

The present study reports construction of scales for assessing psychological stress responses in junior high school students. The relation between stress responses and independent/interdependent self-construal was examined. Junior high school students (N = 1,112) answered 2 questionnaires : a Psychological Stress Responses Scale, and an Independent and Interdependent Self-Construal Scale. The results were as follows : (1) a high score on assertiveness was related to a low score on almost all stress measures ; (2) a high score on fear of negative evaluation was related to a high score on stress responses, (3) based on a cluster analysis, students could be categorized into 4 groups, and (4) the interdependence-predominant group had higher stress response scores than the other groups.