Stress and Distress
- 1 December 1985
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Vol. 16 (4), 447-466
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0022002185016004003
Abstract
Frequency and intensity of stressful life events (SLE) and distress (neurotic symptom formation and anxiety) were compared in groups of Chinese students at the University of Hong Kong, Chinese student sojourners at a Canadian University, and Euro-Canadian students. The results are dominated by a strong Gender X Culture interaction for the total symptom score such that Chinese females, especially female sojourners, are most at risk. There were no cultural or gender differences in SLE frequency. However, the possible differential utility of the SLE measures as predictors of psychological distress was highlighted by the fact that SLE frequency was positively related to symptoms for Canadians and University of Hong Kong students but not for student sojourners for whom the best predictor of symptoms was SLE impact; furthermore, the relationship was negative. Female sojourners appear to have a different stress-symptom structure than male sojourners or female Chinese at the University of Hong Kong.Keywords
This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
- Sojourner adjustment.Psychological Bulletin, 1982
- Acculturation, stress and coping: Some implications for research and educationInternational Journal of Intercultural Relations, 1981
- Stressful life events, personality, and health: An inquiry into hardiness.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1979
- Reply to Gove and Tudor's Comment on "Sex Differences and Psychiatric Disorders"American Journal of Sociology, 1977
- Depression, somatization and the “new cross-cultural psychiatry”Social Science & Medicine (1967), 1977
- Cross-Cultural Study of Depressive Symptoms in HawaiiInternational Journal of Social Psychiatry, 1973
- The Relationship Between Sex Roles, Marital Status, and Mental IllnessSocial Forces, 1972
- Non-Random Sampling of Individualsin Cross-Cultural ResearchJournal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1971
- SYMPTOMATOLOGY OF HOSPITALIZED PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS IN JAPAN AND IN THE UNITED STATES: A STUDY OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCESJournal Of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1971
- The social readjustment rating scaleJournal of Psychosomatic Research, 1967