Growth Motivation and Well-Being in the U.S., Japan, Guatemala, and India

Jack J. Bauer, Sun W. Park, Hiroko Kamide, Nicholas V. Pesola, Shanmukh V. Kamble, Laura E. Graham, Joseph DeBrosse, Mahadevi S. Waddar

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    4 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The present study examined how the Growth Motivation Index (GMI; Bauer et al. in J Happiness Stud 16:185–210, 2015) related to well-being and identity exploration in samples from the U.S., Japan, Guatemala, and India. The GMI has two facets. GMI-reflective measures the motive to cultivate critical self-reflection and intellectual development, whereas GMI-experiential measures the motive to cultivate personally meaningful activities and relationships. We expected and found that, when comparing the two GMI facets simultaneously, GMI-reflective predicted well-being in countries ranked as having collectivist but not individualist cultures, whereas GMI-experiential predicted well-being in countries ranked as having individualist but not collectivist cultures. GMI-reflective predicted identity exploration across cultures. Implications for growth motivation and culture are discussed.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)899-919
    Number of pages21
    JournalJournal of Happiness Studies
    Volume21
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020 Mar 1

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.

    Keywords

    • Cross-cultural
    • Eudaimonic growth
    • Growth motivation
    • Identity exploration
    • Well-being

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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