Hashimoto Hirofumi, Ohashi Takuma, Yamaguchi Susumu
Graduate School of Literature and Human Sciences, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan.
Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Front Psychol. 2022 Oct 19;13:953260. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.953260. eCollection 2022.
Two studies aimed to examine cultural differences in social support provision, with or without solicitation, in Japan and the United States (US). In Study 1, we replicated a previous study with Japanese university students. We found that the Japanese participants did not provide social support when it was not solicited, as compared with when it was solicited. Furthermore, in Study 2, participants were asked to respond to a questionnaire regarding a hypothetical stressful situation experienced by a close other and to indicate their willingness to provide support. We confirmed our hypothesis that Japanese participants hesitate to provide unsolicited support to close others (such as family members or close friends), even when they recognize that the close others are in need, whereas the American participants do not hesitate to provide such support. Contrastingly, regarding solicited support, the Japanese and Americans were equally ready to provide support, as hypothesized. The cultural difference in social support resides in the provision of unsolicited support. These results suggest that differences in culturally appropriate responses to needy people are responsible for the difference in the provision of unsolicited vs. solicited social support.
两项研究旨在考察在日本和美国，主动或不主动提供社会支持时的文化差异。在研究1中，我们对之前一项针对日本大学生的研究进行了复制。我们发现，与主动提供社会支持相比，日本参与者在未被请求时不会提供社会支持。此外，在研究2中，参与者被要求就一位亲密他人经历的假设性压力情境填写问卷，并表明他们提供支持的意愿。我们证实了我们的假设，即日本参与者即使认识到亲密他人有需要，也会犹豫是否主动向其提供支持（如家庭成员或亲密朋友），而美国参与者则会毫不犹豫地提供此类支持。相反，对于主动请求的支持，正如假设的那样，日本人和美国人同样愿意提供支持。社会支持的文化差异在于主动提供支持方面。这些结果表明，对有需要的人在文化上恰当反应的差异导致了主动与非主动提供社会支持的差异。
