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Fulltext Factors Associated With Highest Symptoms of Anxiety During COVID-19: Cross-Cultural Study of 23 Countries

Burkova VN, Butovskaya ML, Randall AK, Fedenok JN, Ahmadi K, Alghraibeh AM, et al.

Front Psychol, 2022;13:805586.
PMID: 35664191 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805586

The COVID-19 restrictions have impacted people's lifestyles in all spheres (social, psychological, political, economic, and others). This study explored which factors affected the level of anxiety during the time of the first wave of COVID-19 and subsequent quarantine in a substantial proportion of 23 countries, included in this study. The data was collected from May to August 2020 (5 June 2020). The sample included 15,375 participants from 23 countries: (seven from Europe: Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Russia; 11 from West, South and Southeast Asia: Armenia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey; two African: Nigeria and Tanzania; and three from North, South, and Central America: Brazil, Canada, United States). Level of anxiety was measured by means of the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and the 20-item first part of The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)-State Anxiety Inventory (SAI). Respondents were also asked about their personal experiences with COVID-19, attitudes toward measures introduced by governments, changes in attitudes toward migrants during a pandemic, family income, isolation conditions, etc. The factor analysis revealed that four factors explained 45.08% of variance in increase of anxiety, and these components were interpreted as follows: (1) personal awareness of the threat of COVID-19, (2) personal reaction toward officially undertaken measures and attitudes to foreigners, (3) personal trust in official sources, (4) personal experience with COVID-19. Three out of four factors demonstrated strong associations with both scales of anxiety: high level of anxiety was significantly correlated with high level of personal awareness of the threat of COVID-19, low level of personal reaction toward officially undertaken measures and attitudes to foreigners, and high level of presence of personal experience with COVID-19. Our study revealed significant main effects of sex, country, and all four factors on the level of anxiety. It was demonstrated that countries with higher levels of anxiety assessed the real danger of a pandemic as higher, and had more personal experience with COVID-19. Respondents who trusted the government demonstrated lower levels of anxiety. Finally, foreigners were perceived as the cause of epidemic spread.
Global Study of Social Odor Awareness

Sorokowska A, Groyecka A, Karwowski M, Frackowiak T, Lansford JE, Ahmadi K, et al.

Chem. Senses, 2018 08 24;43(7):503-513.
PMID: 29955865 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjy038

Olfaction plays an important role in human social communication, including multiple domains in which people often rely on their sense of smell in the social context. The importance of the sense of smell and its role can however vary inter-individually and culturally. Despite the growing body of literature on differences in olfactory performance or hedonic preferences across the globe, the aspects of a given culture as well as culturally universal individual differences affecting odor awareness in human social life remain unknown. Here, we conducted a large-scale analysis of data collected from 10 794 participants from 52 study sites from 44 countries all over the world. The aim of our research was to explore the potential individual and country-level correlates of odor awareness in the social context. The results show that the individual characteristics were more strongly related than country-level factors to self-reported odor awareness in different social contexts. A model including individual-level predictors (gender, age, material situation, education, and preferred social distance) provided a relatively good fit to the data, but adding country-level predictors (Human Development Index, population density, and average temperature) did not improve model parameters. Although there were some cross-cultural differences in social odor awareness, the main differentiating role was played by the individual differences. This suggests that people living in different cultures and different climate conditions may still share some similar patterns of odor awareness if they share other individual-level characteristics.
Corrigendum: The Associations of Dyadic Coping and Relationship Satisfaction Vary between and within Nations: A 35-Nation Study

Hilpert P, Randall AK, Sorokowski P, Atkins DC, Sorokowska A, Ahmadi K, et al.

Front Psychol, 2016;7:1404.
PMID: 27698648

[This corrects the article on p. 1106 in vol. 7, PMID: 27551269.].
Fulltext Corrigendum: Marital Satisfaction, Sex, Age, Marriage Duration, Religion, Number of Children, Economic Status, Education, and Collectivistic Values: Data from 33 Countries

Sorokowski P, Randall AK, Groyecka A, Frackowiak T, Cantarero K, Hilpert P, et al.

Front Psychol, 2017;8:1728.
PMID: 29021774 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01728

[This corrects the article on p. 1199 in vol. 8, PMID: 28785230.].
Fulltext Marital Satisfaction, Sex, Age, Marriage Duration, Religion, Number of Children, Economic Status, Education, and Collectivistic Values: Data from 33 Countries

Sorokowski P, Randall AK, Groyecka A, Frackowiak T, Cantarero K, Hilpert P, et al.

Front Psychol, 2017;8:1199.
PMID: 28785230 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01199
Fulltext The Associations of Dyadic Coping and Relationship Satisfaction Vary between and within Nations: A 35-Nation Study

Hilpert P, Randall AK, Sorokowski P, Atkins DC, Sorokowska A, Ahmadi K, et al.

Front Psychol, 2016;7:1106.
PMID: 27551269 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01106

OBJECTIVE: Theories about how couples help each other to cope with stress, such as the systemic transactional model of dyadic coping, suggest that the cultural context in which couples live influences how their coping behavior affects their relationship satisfaction. In contrast to the theoretical assumptions, a recent meta-analysis provides evidence that neither culture, nor gender, influences the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction, at least based on their samples of couples living in North America and West Europe. Thus, it is an open questions whether the theoretical assumptions of cultural influences are false or whether cultural influences on couple behavior just occur in cultures outside of the Western world.
METHOD: In order to examine the cultural influence, using a sample of married individuals (N = 7973) from 35 nations, we used multilevel modeling to test whether the positive association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies across nations and whether gender might moderate the association.
RESULTS: RESULTS reveal that the association between dyadic coping and relationship satisfaction varies between nations. In addition, results show that in some nations the association is higher for men and in other nations it is higher for women.
CONCLUSIONS: Cultural and gender differences across the globe influence how couples' coping behavior affects relationship outcomes. This crucial finding indicates that couple relationship education programs and interventions need to be culturally adapted, as skill trainings such as dyadic coping lead to differential effects on relationship satisfaction based on the culture in which couples live.
Fulltext Contrasting Computational Models of Mate Preference Integration Across 45 Countries

Conroy-Beam D, Buss DM, Asao K, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, Aavik T, et al.

Sci Rep, 2019 11 15;9(1):16885.
PMID: 31729413 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-52748-8

Humans express a wide array of ideal mate preferences. Around the world, people desire romantic partners who are intelligent, healthy, kind, physically attractive, wealthy, and more. In order for these ideal preferences to guide the choice of actual romantic partners, human mating psychology must possess a means to integrate information across these many preference dimensions into summaries of the overall mate value of their potential mates. Here we explore the computational design of this mate preference integration process using a large sample of n = 14,487 people from 45 countries around the world. We combine this large cross-cultural sample with agent-based models to compare eight hypothesized models of human mating markets. Across cultures, people higher in mate value appear to experience greater power of choice on the mating market in that they set higher ideal standards, better fulfill their preferences in choice, and pair with higher mate value partners. Furthermore, we find that this cross-culturally universal pattern of mate choice is most consistent with a Euclidean model of mate preference integration.
Fulltext Reasons for Facebook Usage: Data From 46 Countries

Kowal M, Sorokowski P, Sorokowska A, Dobrowolska M, Pisanski K, Oleszkiewicz A, et al.

Front Psychol, 2020;11:711.
PMID: 32425849 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00711
Universality of the Triangular Theory of Love: Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Triangular Love Scale in 25 Countries

Sorokowski P, Sorokowska A, Karwowski M, Groyecka A, Aavik T, Akello G, et al.

J Sex Res, 2021 01;58(1):106-115.
PMID: 32783568 DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2020.1787318

The Triangular Theory of Love (measured with Sternberg's Triangular Love Scale - STLS) is a prominent theoretical concept in empirical research on love. To expand the culturally homogeneous body of previous psychometric research regarding the STLS, we conducted a large-scale cross-cultural study with the use of this scale. In total, we examined more than 11,000 respondents, but as a result of applied exclusion criteria, the final analyses were based on a sample of 7332 participants from 25 countries (from all inhabited continents). We tested configural invariance, metric invariance, and scalar invariance, all of which confirmed the cultural universality of the theoretical construct of love analyzed in our study. We also observed that levels of love components differ depending on relationship duration, following the dynamics suggested in the Triangular Theory of Love. Supplementary files with all our data, including results on love intensity across different countries along with STLS versions adapted in a few dozen languages, will further enable more extensive research on the Triangular Theory of Love.
Affective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Sorokowska A, Saluja S, Sorokowski P, Frąckowiak T, Karwowski M, Aavik T, et al.

Pers Soc Psychol Bull, 2021 12;47(12):1705-1721.
PMID: 33615910 DOI: 10.1177/0146167220988373

Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch.
Modernization, collectivism, and gender equality predict love experiences in 45 countries

Sorokowski P, Kowal M, Sternberg RJ, Aavik T, Akello G, Alhabahba MM, et al.

Sci Rep, 2023 Jan 14;13(1):773.
PMID: 36641519 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26663-4

Recent cross-cultural and neuro-hormonal investigations have suggested that love is a near universal phenomenon that has a biological background. Therefore, the remaining important question is not whether love exists worldwide but which cultural, social, or environmental factors influence experiences and expressions of love. In the present study, we explored whether countries' modernization indexes are related to love experiences measured by three subscales (passion, intimacy, commitment) of the Triangular Love Scale. Analyzing data from 9474 individuals from 45 countries, we tested for relationships with country-level predictors, namely, modernization proxies (i.e., Human Development Index, World Modernization Index, Gender Inequality Index), collectivism, and average annual temperatures. We found that mean levels of love (especially intimacy) were higher in countries with higher modernization proxies, collectivism, and average annual temperatures. In conclusion, our results grant some support to the hypothesis that modernization processes might influence love experiences.
Sex Differences in Mate Preferences Across 45 Countries: A Large-Scale Replication

Walter KV, Conroy-Beam D, Buss DM, Asao K, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, et al.

Psychol Sci, 2020 Apr;31(4):408-423.
PMID: 32196435 DOI: 10.1177/0956797620904154

Considerable research has examined human mate preferences across cultures, finding universal sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and resources as well as sources of systematic cultural variation. Two competing perspectives-an evolutionary psychological perspective and a biosocial role perspective-offer alternative explanations for these findings. However, the original data on which each perspective relies are decades old, and the literature is fraught with conflicting methods, analyses, results, and conclusions. Using a new 45-country sample (N = 14,399), we attempted to replicate classic studies and test both the evolutionary and biosocial role perspectives. Support for universal sex differences in preferences remains robust: Men, more than women, prefer attractive, young mates, and women, more than men, prefer older mates with financial prospects. Cross-culturally, both sexes have mates closer to their own ages as gender equality increases. Beyond age of partner, neither pathogen prevalence nor gender equality robustly predicted sex differences or preferences across countries.
Fulltext Sex differences in human mate preferences vary across sex ratios

Walter KV, Conroy-Beam D, Buss DM, Asao K, Sorokowska A, Sorokowski P, et al.

Proc Biol Sci, 2021 Jul 28;288(1955):20211115.
PMID: 34284630 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1115

A wide range of literature connects sex ratio and mating behaviours in non-human animals. However, research examining sex ratio and human mating is limited in scope. Prior work has examined the relationship between sex ratio and desire for short-term, uncommitted mating as well as outcomes such as marriage and divorce rates. Less empirical attention has been directed towards the relationship between sex ratio and mate preferences, despite the importance of mate preferences in the human mating literature. To address this gap, we examined sex ratio's relationship to the variation in preferences for attractiveness, resources, kindness, intelligence and health in a long-term mate across 45 countries (n = 14 487). We predicted that mate preferences would vary according to relative power of choice on the mating market, with increased power derived from having relatively few competitors and numerous potential mates. We found that each sex tended to report more demanding preferences for attractiveness and resources where the opposite sex was abundant, compared to where the opposite sex was scarce. This pattern dovetails with those found for mating strategies in humans and mate preferences across species, highlighting the importance of sex ratio for understanding variation in human mate preferences.
Fulltext The International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS): A screening tool for clinical and organizational applications validated in 85 cultures from six continents

Charzyńska E, Buźniak A, Czerwiński SK, Woropay-Hordziejewicz N, Schneider Z, Aavik T, et al.

J Behav Addict, 2025 Feb 25.
PMID: 39998574 DOI: 10.1556/2006.2025.00005

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Despite the last decade's significant development in the scientific study of work addiction/workaholism, this area of research is still facing a fundamental challenge, namely the need for a valid and reliable measurement tool that shows cross-cultural invariance and, as such, allows for worldwide studies on this phenomenon.
METHODS: An initial 16-item questionnaire, developed within an addiction framework, was administered alongside job stress, job satisfaction, and self-esteem measures in a total sample of 31,352 employees from six continents and 85 cultures (63.5% females, mean age of 39.24 years).
RESULTS: Based on theoretical premises and psychometric testing, the International Work Addiction Scale (IWAS) was developed as a short measure representing essential features of work addiction. The seven-item version (IWAS-7), covering all seven components of work addiction, showed partial scalar invariance across 81 cultures, while the five-item version (IWAS-5) showed it across all 85 cultures. Higher levels of work addiction on both versions were associated with higher job stress, lower job satisfaction, and lower self-esteem across cultures. The optimal cut-offs for the IWAS-7 (24 points) and IWAS-5 (18 points) were established with an overall accuracy of 96% for both versions.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The IWAS is a valid, reliable, and short screening scale that can be used in different cultures and languages, providing comparative and generalizable results. The scale can be used globally in clinical and organizational settings, with the IWAS-5 being recommended for most practical and clinical situations. This is the first study to provide data supporting the hypothesis that work addiction is a universal phenomenon worldwide.
A preliminary study on the role of personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases on self-reported health across countries

Pfuhl G, Prazeres F, Kowal M, Aavik T, Abad-Villaverde B, Afhami R, et al.

Public Health, 2025 Mar 23;242:220-227.
PMID: 40127606 DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2025.02.030

OBJECTIVES: Infectious diseases are often associated with decline in quality of life. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between personal history of communicable, i.e., infectious and parasitic diseases and self-rated health.
STUDY DESIGN: Secondary analysis of a large dataset multi-country observational study.
METHODS: We used a four-pronged analysis approach to investigate whether personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases is related to self-reported health, measured with a single item.
RESULTS: Three of the four analyses found a small positive effect on self-reported health among those reporting a history of pathogen exposure. The meta-analysis found no support but large heterogeneity that was not reduced by two classifications of countries.
CONCLUSION: Personal history of infectious and parasitic diseases does not reduce self-reported health across a global sample.

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