Perceived Responsibility and Stressfulness Among College Students in the United States and Japan

Abstract

This study tested how the patterns of stressfulness would be associated with perceptions of a stressful event. Undergraduates in the United States and Japan reported their stressful event and retrospectively rated the stressfulness when the event happened and at the survey point. Results using cluster analyses demonstrated three patterns: Recovery, Chronic, and Low Stress. Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that only Japanese students who perceived others as being responsible for their event were more likely to be in the Chronic group. Results may reflect collectivistic and individualistic cultural orientations and suggest that culture plays a role in the perceptions of stressfulness.

Keywords:

• Perceived stressfulness
• responsibility
• culture
• closure
• locus of control

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kanako Taku

Kanako Taku is an associate professor of psychology at Oakland University, Michigan. Her area of specialization includes clinical, developmental, personality, and cross-cultural psychology.

Atsushi Oshio

Atsushi Oshio is a professor of psychology in the Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. His interests are assessment, structure, and development of personality traits.

Whitney Dominick

Whitney Dominick is a graduate student of the Department of Psychology at Oakland University, Michigan. Her area of interest is posttraumatic growth and how animals can help people recognize the growth.