Authenticity, social context and wellbeing in the USA, England and Russia: a three country comparative analysis

Robinson, Oliver C., Lopez, Frederick G., Ramos, Katherine and Nartova-Bochaver, Sofya (2012) Authenticity, social context and wellbeing in the USA, England and Russia: a three country comparative analysis. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. ISSN 0022-0221 (Print), 1552-5422 (Online) (In Press) (doi:10.1177/0022022112465672)

Abstract

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.

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