No abstract

To conduct a cross-cultural test of a theory specifying the appraisals that elicit particular emotions, undergraduates from India and the United States were asked how they appraised events that caused them to feel sadness, fear, or anger. In both cultures there was evidence that an appraisal of powerlessness characterized incidents leading to sadness and fear, rather than anger; and an appraisal that other persons caused negative events characterized incidents leading to anger, rather than sadness or fear. Also, Indians appraised events as less discrepant from what they had wanted than Americans did; this accounted for lower sadness and anger among Indians. Overall, cultural differences in appraisal explained cultural differences in emotion, due to underlying cross-cultural similarities in appraisal-emotion relationships.

Women's education, employment, and family roles and the interrelations between them have attracted increasing attention during the last few years. Feminists have dispelled long held notions about “women's place” and the accepted myths about their nature and function (Goldstien, 1972). Over the last few decades there has been a tremendous change in laws, attitudes, and norms affecting women's status, roles, and development in society in India. As a result of which women have ventured beyond the traditional role of wife and mother, and have sought employment and careers outside the home, and have actively participated in the economic and social development of the nation (Liddle & Joshi, 1986). There is a restructuring and reorientation of women's roles in contemporary society. However, not much empirical knowledge is available about these changes and the impact they have on women's behaviour, values, or attitudes and identities (Johnson, 1992). Rapid social changes in women's career and family roles are accompanied by a significant transition in their attitude towards career and family. Research in the last decade highlighted the complex relationships between a woman's objective roles and her subjective attitudes regarding these roles, which affect her overall life satisfaction and sense of identity in society (Phillips & Imhoff, 1997). This study examines the role expectation and satisfaction, fears, dreams, aspirations, sense of competence, or lack of it, among college women in contemporary Indian society.

This study compared the self-concepts of college students in India to those in the United States by administering the Twenty Statements Test. Self-statements were analyzed in terms of five categories (social identity, ideological beliefs, interests, ambitions, and self-evaluations) and a numberof subcategories (e.g., self-identity, group identity, gender role identity). Results indicated differential use of the categories and subcategories in the two cultures. For example, Americans made more self-evaluation statements, whereas Indians responded more in terms of social identity. Women in both cultures made more frequent use of stereotypical gender characteristics in describing themselves; men had a larger proportion of responses in the self-identity category. However, cross-cultural differences were much greater than gender differences. These findings shed light on major components of the self-concept and underline its culture-specific determinants.

This study was designed to assess patterns of family conflict and violence directed toward pregnant women in India. Two hundred and forty women in their first, third, and fourth pregnancies were interviewed using a structured interview with primarily open ended questions. Content analysis provided response categories for constructing categorical and cumulative scales of the families' conflict/violence patterns, coping behaviours, attribution patterns, percieved societal norms, socialisation patterns, and demographic considerations. The conflict/violence frequencies found ranged from mild to severe patterns of abuse that are similar to patterns of abuse found in other cultures. However, the patterns of correlate measures of abuse reflect cultural aspects of family dynamics specific to India. Implications for intervention approaches for women in India and further research in the area are noted.