Self-construals across cultures - Beyond independence-interdependence

This article reviews the literature on cross-cultural assessment of self-construals and proposes to refine their conceptualization by incorporating principles derived from self-categorization theory and a critique of cross-cultural research. A Sixfold Self-Construal Scale is devised to measure six subcategories of self-construal: the personal self, relational horizontal and relational vertical selves, collective horizontal and collective vertical selves, and humanity-bound self-construal. The instrument's reliability and factor structure are tested in four student samples (N = 855) from the United Kingdom, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. Convergent validity of the Sixfold Self-Construal Scale is tested with measures of Group Identification, Inclusion of the Other in the Self, the Schwartz value survey, and comparison of national mean scores. Results support the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of the scale in all samples.