PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Sandra Lamartine

Industrial/Organizational
June 1995

The Isolation of Culture from National Variables in the examination of Coping Strategies among Hungarians and Romanians

    Many cross-cultural studies have been weakened by researchers who discuss results in cultural terms, yet have never isolated culture from national variables.  The present study tests a research design which isolates the influence of culture.  Forty-nine Hungarians in Hungary (HH), 49 Hungarians in Romania (HR) and 54 Romanians were surveyed using Hofstede’s Culture Value Survey and Amirkhan’s Coping Strategy Indicator.  Based on Hofstede’s measure, it was hypothesized that Hungary and Romania would differ in culture and as a result differ in employee coping strategy.  t-tests revealed no significant difference between the three groups in Seeking Support coping; however, a significant national difference in Avoidance coping was found.  Post-hoc analyses further revealed that HH and HR were significantly different.  This finding confirms that national variables, rather than cultural ones, account for the development of Avoidance coping.  Additional analyses revealed differences between Eastern Europeans and Americans, and between members of different demographic groups.

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