A CROSS-CULTURAL EXAMINATION OF INTERPERSONAL-COMMUNICATION MOTIVES IN MEXICO AND THE UNITED-STATES

This study examined cultural differences in motives for interpersonal communication by comparing a general US. sample with student samples from the U S. and Mexico. Past research indicated six main motives that people have for initiating conversations with others: Pleasure, Escape, Relaxation, Inclusion, Affection, and Control. Hofstede's (1980) dimensions of national culture-power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity-were used to predict cross-cultural differences in these interpersonal motives. Eight hypotheses were tested. Results indicated that Mexican scores were not significantly higher than US. scores on interpersonal control, relaxation, and escape motives (as predicted), but were significantly lower than US. scores on interpersonal affection, pleasure, and inclusion motives (as predicted). There were significant negative relationships between the interpersonal communication motives and age in the U S. data, but not in the Mexican data. Also, significant positive relationships between gender and the affection and inclusion motives and negative relationship between gender and control motives were found only for the U.S. samples.