Extant assessments of Messner and Rosenfeld's institutional-anomie theory (1994) have generally supported the thesis that, in social collectives where the economy dominates, non-economic institutions (i.e. the family, education, polity) are rendered feeble, unable to exert their normative controls. The cultural values of these societies place primacy on "making it" (monetary success), while at the same time placing a much weaker emphasis on the licit means of achieving these goals. The resultant state is one of anomie, conducive to crime. Messner and Rosenfeld have extended their argument stating that it is not economic dominance per se that contributes to high crime rates, but any tip in the institutional balance of power. The current study examines one of these configurations which hypothesizes that, in nation-states where the state dominates other institutions, the dominant cultural orientation is one of moral cynicism, conducive to corruption-prone behaviors. Using macro-level data, the current study assesses the efficacy of this alternate configuration of institutional-anomie theory as a predictor of corruption cross-nationally. Using a sample of 125 nations, state dominance is positively related to corruption. The effects of the state were both mediated and moderated by economic strength, measured as levels of industrialization.

Savoring, or the process of prolonging a specific experience of positive emotions, is associated with positive health outcomes and feelings of interpersonal connectedness. Few studies have examined the process of savoring in a family context, and even fewer studies have explored the extent to which it may vary across cultures. In a sample of mother-child dyads (n = 66; White = 33 and Latinx, non-White = 30), we investigated the effect of savoring on verbal and behavioral indicators of maternal responsiveness as compared to a control condition, a reflecting exercise about daily routines. The results suggest an interaction effect of experimental condition and race on verbal maternal responsiveness, such that White moms who savored were more responsive than those who had reflected. Unexpectedly, Latina moms who reflected were more responsive than those who had savored. This effect may be explained by Latinx cultural values of collectivism and familism interacting with participants’ interpretation of the experimental tasks. These findings suggest the use of savoring and positive emotion to improve parent-child relationships and highlight the importance of studying the role of culture in psychological interventions.

The present research proposes a general model of Transnational Teams (TNTs) to investigate how value placed on cultural diversity, cultural adaptation, communication quality, and trust affect the performance of TNTs and their interaction to each other. TNTs contribute to decisions about a firm's total portfolio of transnational interests, global brands and products, organizational configuration, and global sourcing strategy. Qualitative and quantitative methods are applied in this study of thirty members of TNTs from diverse teams. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis, relationships between theory and practice are examined. The analysis shows that there is a strong relationship between trust and performance of TNTs.

Determining the effects of military service on those who volunteer is of vital importance in an age when service may lead to the loss of bodily function or life. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of military service with consideration for the demographic statuses of race, gender, and educational attainment on economic outcomes. Data for this study came from the Current Population Survey July 2010 with Veterans Supplement (N=83,000). Results from this study suggest that some veterans, namely those of minority racial status and lower educational attainment benefit from their military serve by achieving increased levels of household income as compared to similar non-veterans. Conversely, non-Hispanic White veterans and those with higher levels of educational attainment suffer negative consequences to levels of household income. Furthermore, differences among veterans were assessed. These results provide further insight into the experiences of veterans in the United States.

This collection explores various aspects of Indonesian culture. From remote government settlements off the coast of Sumatra to the urbanized and commercial beaches of Bali, these stories take a look at the complexities, differences and adjustments felt by people of both the East and West. An attempt has been made to detail confusion, frustration, disorientation, struggles, prejudices, misunderstandings as well as epiphanies without Orientializing (to borrow Edward Said's term) various ways of life within the archipelago. To most fairly convey the intricacies and differences between the broad generalities of the two cultures, multiple voices and points of view are incorporated. Americans, a Scottish citizen, and of course, Indonesians are all given significant space here--displaying both intolerant and tolerant notions--in order to maintain the humanity and dignity of all cultures and worldviews involved.

This study investigated cultural differences, U.S.A. and Japan, in the selection of compliance-gaining strategies by lower status people as differentiated from a group leader in a short-term, task-oriented relationship. The subjects for this study consisted of 114 (59 male and 55 female) U.S. college students and 165 (65 male and 100 female} Japanese college students. All subjects lived in Oregon. After the subjects read the hypothetical scenario which involved changing a task for a classroom project, a 21 item questionnaire was administered. The questions were taken from Kipnis, Schmidt, and Wilkinson's (1980} study, and a six-point scale was used. The 21 questions were categorized into four compliance-gaining strategies: rationalization, exchange of benefits, ingratiation, and assertion. Rationalization and exchange of benefits were used to test hypotheses regarding culture as a whole. Hypothesis one was "Japanese lower status people who are in short-term, task-oriented relationships will use more rationalization compliance-gaining strategies than U.S. people who are in short-term, task-oriented relationships," while hypothesis two was "U.S. lower status people who are in short-term, task-oriented relationships will use more exchange of benefits compliance-gaining strategies than Japanese lower status people who are in short-term, task-oriented relationships." Ingratiation and assertion were used to test the hypotheses regarding gender in different cultures. Hypothesis three was "U.S. lower status females who are in short-term, task-oriented relationships will use more ingratiation compliance-gaining strategies than Japanese lower status females who are in short-term, task-oriented relationships," and hypothesis four was "U.S. lower status males who are in short-term, task-oriented relationships use more assertion compliance-gaining strategies than Japanese lower status males who are in short-term, task-oriented relationships."

The main goal of the present study was to develop an Arabic adaptation of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI, Form Y, Spielberger, 1983). In addition, cultural and linguistic influences on the experience and expression of anxiety were assessed. The American STAI and fifty initial Arabic items were administered to 286 university students at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. The American STAI was also administered to 336 university students at the University of South Florida. Item and factor analyses were conducted on responses of the calibration sample to obtain the final set of Arabic items, which was validated using the responses of the validation sample. In conducting item selection and validation of the Arabic STAI, internal consistency coefficients for subscales, corrected item-total correlations, alpha coefficients if-item-deleted, item-factor loadings, and theoretical meaningfulness were all used as criteria for selection of the best 10 Arabic items to be included in each subscale of the STAI: S-Anxiety Absent, S-Anxiety Present, T-Anxiety Absent, T-Anxiety present. The two-factor solution for the Arabic STAI yielded a simple solution with two distinct factors: Anxiety Present and Anxiety Absent for each of S-Anxiety and T-Anxiety, lending more support to the theoretical distinction of state and trait anxiety. Lebanese students reported significantly higher anxiety levels than their American peers on S-Anxiety Present, T-Anxiety Absent, and T-Anxiety Present, S-Anxiety and T-Anxiety of the American STAI. For S-Anxiety Absent, scores for the Lebanese sample were lower than American students but did not reach significance levels. S-Anxiety Absent and T-Anxiety Absent subscales assessed lower levels of anxiety rather than the higher levels of anxiety assessed by S-Anxiety Present and T-Anxiety Present. Females tend to experience and express higher levels of mild and severe anxiety symptoms as compared to males in both samples. Factor analyses of the American STAI for the American and Lebanese samples revealed similar two and three- factor solutions. For each of the State and trait subscales, three factors emerged: Anxiety Absent, Worry, and Emotionality factors, denoting the importance of cognitions and feelings in the experience and expression of anxiety.

This narrative inquiry explores the process through which a combination of coursework, field experiences, and experiential classroom activities engaged pre-service teachers with opportunities to expand their perspective upon culturally normative conceptions of values, beliefs, and worldview. Due to the current racial and ethnic demographic gap separating the professional ranks of the teaching force and the increasingly diverse population of students in the United States, cross-cultural awareness is imperative for both teacher education programming and membership in a culturally pluralistic society. Drawing on multiple data points, the narrative illuminates the participant voices, context, and dynamic social process of teaching and learning. The findings comprise a heuristic portrait that describes the process of how the instructor, students, and the researcher approached cross-cultural awareness from within the walls of a university classroom. The findings demonstrate how normative frames of reference in the class were meaningfully and experientially contrasted through a purposive curriculum under the guidance of an exemplar instructor. Findings included that cognitively dissociative cross-cultural simulations, with attendant debriefings, were effective means for engaging students in reflecting on culturally normative cognition and behaviors. This in part was due to the curricular decisions of an experienced instructor – students for the most part felt comfortable in reflecting and challenging their cultural assumptions and experiences. Not as effective was the engagement of guest speakers as a means for students to reflect on their cultural selves and others. These findings help inform and guide educators seeking to engage issues related to cross-cultural awareness, and offers new directions for future research.

Allt eftersom världen blir mer globaliserad anses det inte längre som en självklarhet att arbeta i ett och samma land under hela sitt arbetsliv. Sverige är inget undantag utan svenskar arbetar nu runt om i hela världen. Denna kvalitativa intervjustudie undersöker svenskars upplevelser av att arbeta i Japan, med fokus på arbetskultur och normer. Studiens teoretiska referensram beskriver vad svenskar anses behöva förhålla sig till på den japanska arbetsmarknaden. Här beskrivs Japans formella och informella arbetskultur för att visa hur de påverkar varandra samt hur de skiljer sig från den svenska arbetskulturen. Vidare beskrivs hur kvinnor och utlänningar bemöts på den japanska arbetsmarknaden och hur anpassning till främmande kulturer kan se ut. Studien grundar sig på nio semistrukturerade intervjuer med svenskar som har erfarenheter av att arbeta i Japan under minst ett års tid. Intervjuerna analyseras tematiskt för att skapa en överskådlig bild av svenskarnas japanska arbetsliv. I resultatet återkopplas sedan empirin genom att beskriva svenskars syn på deras egen anställbarhet och möjligheter kring andra förmåner som ledighet samt anpassning till den japanska arbetskulturen och förhållningssätt till jämlikhetsaspekter. I studien framkommer att svenskar alltid ses som udda fåglar av sin omgivning på grund av att de som utlänningar skiljer sig från mängden. Detta leder till att deras språkliga kunskaper och hur väl de anpassar sig tillkulturen får betydelse i hur omgivningen förhåller sig till dem. Japans informella och mer hierarkiska kultur bidrar till svårigheter för svenskarna i deras anpassning till kulturen som skiljer sig från Sveriges mer informella arbetskultur. Vilket leder till att de ibland får gå emot sina egna värderingar för att passa in i omgivningen. Värderingar kring jämlikhet upplevdes svårare för svenskarna att avvika från och motstånd visar sig i samband med Japans traditionella könsroller. I dessa situationer märktes den svenska identiteten tydligt. Den övergripande slutsatsen är dock att svenskar fortfarande anpassar sig till den japanska kulturen i någon utsträckning. Studiens resultat indikerade även att svenskar rör sig inom en egen sub-dimension av den japanska arbetsmarknaden bortom den traditionella japanska. Studien avslutas med en diskussion kring frågor som uppkommit under studiens gång och som kan leda till vidare forskning.

In the U.S., individuals of Afro-Caribbean and Latino descent are two to three times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than non-Hispanic whites. Caribbean and Latin America migrants, particularly minority women bear a disproportionate burden of type 2 diabetes and its risk factors. The purpose of this research is to investigate if Afro-Caribbean women share a cultural belief model about type 2 diabetes and how this belief model, along with structural barriers to health care, influence disease risk and management. A sample of 40 women, primarily Jamaican and Trinidadian, 35 to 90 years of age previously diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were recruited in southwest Florida. Socio-demographic, medical history, and self-reported height and weight data were collected from women. A 53 item yes/no cultural beliefs questionnaire about type 2 diabetes' etiology, treatment, and symptoms was administered to 30 women. Semi-structured interviews about diet and lifestyle type 2 diabetes management were conducted with 38 women, 24 interviews were conducted over the telephone. The cultural consensus analysis used to analyze the cultural beliefs questionnaire found that the women shared a single cultural belief model (.72 ±.081 SD) about type 2 diabetes. Body mass index was calculated from self-reported height and weight data, and correlated with socio-demographic and cultural belief variables. The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity was 40.39 percent. The spearman correlation found that women with higher BMI (rs = -0.42993, p = .0125) and individual cultural knowledge scores (rs = -0.41730, p = .0218) were significantly younger at age of type 2 diabetes diagnosis than women with lower BMI and individual cultural knowledge scores. The women's cultural belief model about type 2 diabetes was similar to the biomedical model. Women struggled to modify their traditional Caribbean diet and failed to engage in regular leisure physical activity which may have contributed to their high BMI. Inadequate health insurance and transnational migration prevented women from accessing regular medical care and effectively managing the disease. Afro-Caribbean women face an ongoing struggle to control their glucose levels and BMI to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes complications.