The self‐perception and cultural dimensions: cross‐cultural comparison

Abstract

The present study has been conducted with an aim to compare responses of undergraduates from Swaziland to previously reported findings with similar groups of American, Nepalese, Nigerian and Hong Kong. A total sample of 310 males and females in the age range of 20 and 21 were selected from three universities in South Africa. Self‐esteem was measures through the Personal and Academic Self‐Concept Inventory. Self‐esteem scores were found to be positively high depending on the country of the participants. More specifically, the Swazi and the Nigerians seemed to have relatively higher opinions of their physical appearance than did the other nationalities. The analysis also revealed mean differences according to the country by gender differences and by correlations with other cultural dimensions. However, the expected gender differences did not generalise across cultures. Taken together, the study also endeavoured to find the effect of dialectical thinking in understanding cross‐cultural response differences.

Keywords:

• student
• self‐esteem
• culture
• gender
• Swaziland

Acknowledgements

The research was done with the assistance of many people. I am indebted to my cross‐cultural colleagues especially Professors David Watkins, Jim Fleming, Gregory J. Boyle, C. Kagitcibasi, Bolanle Adetoun, Adrian Furnham, and R.P. Bagozzi, whose thoughts and words I cite, and from the oral history of our forebears in African traditions. I also appreciate the very helpful editorial suggestions of two anonymous reviewers and the editors.