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Close Relationships and Happiness across Cultures pp 201–214Cite as

Cultural Orientations and Well-Being in Greece: Dyad-Level Processes

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Part of the book series: Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology ((CAPP,volume 13))

Abstract

In this chapter I explore the ways that an individual’s independent and interdependent self-construal is related to well-being in dyadic interactions in Greece. Previous research on well-being in Greece, a collectivistic culture, found that peoples’ independent self-construal uniquely predicted higher well-being. Yet there is also evidence that those associations are moderated by relationship context, such that higher independent self-construal often results in lower relational well-being in dyadic interactions, especially interactions taking place in close relationships. A study examined links between spouses’ own and partners’ independent and interdependent self-construal and life satisfaction in Greece. Results from actor-partner interdependence models analyses demonstrated that one’s spouse’s life satisfaction was positively associated with one’s own interdependent self-construal, but was negatively associated with the partner’s independent self-construal. Marital satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between chronic interdependence and life satisfaction, but was negatively related to the spouse’s interdependent self-construal. These results suggest that being married can promote evaluations of life satisfaction and well-being for persons with higher interdependent self-construal. This finding is in line with the central cultural mandate (collectivism) in Greece. The present chapter discusses the likely dyad-level processes from a socio-cognitive perspective, linking individuals’ cultural orientations to individual and cultural level processes.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The study took place in 2005.

  2. 2.

    The data were collected in 2012 in the context of Ms. Margarita Chalkia’s Thesis for the MA in Management of Health Units for the Hellenic Open University. I would like to thank Ms. Chalkia for the data collection and data entry for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, University of Crete, Rethymnon, Greece

    Konstantinos Kafetsios

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  1. Konstantinos Kafetsios
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Correspondence to Konstantinos Kafetsios .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

    Melikşah Demir

  2. Department of Psychology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

    Nebi Sümer

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Kafetsios, K. (2018). Cultural Orientations and Well-Being in Greece: Dyad-Level Processes. In: Demir, M., Sümer, N. (eds) Close Relationships and Happiness across Cultures. Cross-Cultural Advancements in Positive Psychology, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89663-2_12

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