Collectivism turned out to be a gain factor of depression among Russians
Moscow. 21 Aug. INTERFAX.RU — Russian psycho-physiologists have found that negative emotions in residents of the Russian Federation is usually worse when they have to hide in the team — the Russians are more similar to Europe and the United States than in China and Japan.
A study of Russian scientists from the Institute of physiology and fundamental medicine and Novosibirsk state University published in the scientific journal Personality and Individual Differences, reports the press service of the Russian science Foundation (RNF).
Domestic researchers have sought to understand how collectivism — the subordination of the individual to public interests — affects the protection from depression in Russia.
In East Asian countries, where collectivism dominates, it is the custom to hide negative emotions among colleagues or friends. It protects against the state of depression and helps the Chinese and the Japanese to reduce the effect of anxiety and stress.
The West is dominated by individualism, the priority of the individual and personal independence, and European and American psychologists recommend to rethink the situation and not to suppress the negative. Russia on the scale of “collectivism — individualism” takes the middle position, because Russian scientists have set the task to find out whether the Russians installation on the suppression of negative emotions in the team to cope with depression.
We decided to test whether collectivism is a protection factor against depression in Russia. The results of the analysis showed that, in contrast to East Asian countries, in Russia collectivist orientation amplifies the effect of the predisposing factors to depression.Gennady Nasewaupee laboratory of differential psychophysiology, research Institute of physiology and fundamental medicine
The researchers collected psychometric data, and the Russians have carried out mathematical analysis. According to the researchers, the results show that the nature of collectivism in Russia and the West are different. In Eastern societies where the basis of collectivism are the Confucian values “is considered commendable not to show sadness to others, so as not to disturb the harmony in the team” — and it works, but in Russia, suppressing negative emotions only heightens the depression.