TITLE:
Nationality, Ethnicity and the Well-Being Process in Occupational Samples
AUTHORS:
Omolaso Omosehin, Andrew P. Smith
KEYWORDS:
Cross-Cultural Psychology, Cultural/Ethnic Differences, DRIVE Model, Cross-National Comparison
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.7 No.5,
May
17,
2019
ABSTRACT: Well-being has been defined as optimal functioning and experience. In order to get a balanced picture of an individual’s well-being, approaches that integrate both its positive and negative aspects have been suggested. One framework that allows for this integrated approach to well-being is the Demands-Resources Individual Effects (DRIVE) model. The current study was a cross-cultural study of 316 adults in paid employment from three distinct cultural backgrounds: White British, Ethnic Minorities (in the United Kingdom) and Nigerian. The aims of the study were to confirm the established effects of the DRIVE model and to investigate if cultural/ethnic background accounted for any differences in well-being across the three groups. The findings show that the established effects were observed in all groups. This suggests that cultural/ethnic background does not have much effect on well-being outcomes when controlling for established psychosocial predictors such as personality, job characteristics, social support and negative coping. These results support an objective well-being process rather than subjective well-being, which may be defined by a person’s culture.