Abstract
This paper discusses the qualitative differences in dissociative experiences among normal college-age subjects in China and Japan. The paper first describes the process used to prepare the Mandarin version of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES). Baseline statistics comparing the two populations of interest are then presented. These results show fundamental differences across these two Asian cultures in terms of the mean DES scores obtained as well as the shape of the overall distribution of these scores. The results of a factor analysis of the DES responses corroborate both gender and cultural differences across the Japanese and Chinese data. Interestingly, the structure of the factors derived shows little relationship to factors from analyses of normal college-age subjects in North America. These contrasting results suggest that the DES can be a useful addition to other instruments and methods for exploring cross-cultural psychological differences, and that prior to clinical use baseline DES norms for each culture need to be established.