Help-seeking tendencies and subjective well-being: A cross-cultural comparison of the United States and Japan

• Main Authors: LUA, Verity Yu Qing, MAJEED, Nadyanna, HARTANTO, Andree, LEUNG, Angela K. Y.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: help-seeking tendencies; subjective well-being; interdependent culture; independent culture; cultural differences; Asian Studies; Multicultural Psychology; Social Psychology
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3665; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4923/viewcontent/Luaetal2022_HelpSeekingCulture_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Help-seeking is commonly conceived as an instrumental behavior that improves people’s subjective well-being. However, most findings supporting a positive association between help-seeking and subjective well-being are observed in independence-preferring countries. Drawing from research demonstrating that the pathways to subjective well-being are culturally divergent, we posit that help-seeking tendencies may be detrimental to subjective well-being for members in interdependence-preferring countries where norms for preserving relational harmony and face concerns are prevalent. This study tested the moderating role of country in the relationship between help-seeking tendencies and subjective well-being using data from 5,068 American and Japanese participants. Results revealed that although help-seeking tendencies were associated with greater life satisfaction, higher positive affect, and lower negative affect among Americans, help-seeking tendencies were associated with poorer life satisfaction and lower positive affect among Japanese. We discuss the importance of adopting culturally sensitive perspectives when examining antecedents of subjective well-being.