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Simple Summary: Despite concerns about animal welfare, and health and environmental issues associated with eating meat, meat consumption continues to increase in many countries around the world. The aim of this pre-registered study was to identify predictors of meat consumption among 399 Germans and 399 Australians. Participants reported current and intended meat consumption, reasons for eating meat, attitudes towards animals, and perceptions of animal farming. In both countries, the more people enjoyed the taste of meat, the more often they ate it, and the more empathy they had towards farmed animals, the less often they ate it. People who thought they would find it easy to reduce meat consumption had greater intentions to do so. Campaigns to reduce meat consumption should focus on increasing empathy towards farmed animals, highlighting tasty plant-based alternatives and outlining ways to make the transition easier. Despite concerns about animal welfare, and health and environmental issues associated with eating meat, meat consumption has continued to increase worldwide, including in Australia. One exception to this is Germany, with 2021 meat consumption levels being the lowest in the last 30 years. This pre-registered study investigated socio-cultural variables associated with meat consumption in Germany (n = 399) and Australia (n = 399) in a cross-sectional online survey. Participants reported levels of current and intended meat consumption, and they completed measures of speciesism, motivations to eat meat, empathy, animal farming perceptions, perceived behavioural control (PBC) over meat eating, and avoidance and dissociation regarding the animal origins of meat. In both Australia and Germany, enjoying the taste of meat positively predicted consumption and empathy towards farmed animals negatively predicted consumption. PBC was a strong positive predictor of intentions to reduce meat consumption in both countries. Empathy and liking the taste of meat were among the best predictors of red meat and poultry consumption, suggesting that interventions to reduce meat consumption may work best by targeting these factors while also increasing people's sense of control over their food choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pluralistic societies such as Australia, an emerging diversity ideology of polyculturalism promotes sharing ideas and practices among people from diverse cultural traditions. What are the psychological associations of endorsing polyculturalism in contrast to multiculturalism and colorblindness, especially for an individual's psychological well-being? We tested a path model to investigate if diversity ideologies are associated with flourishing through ethnocultural empathy, intercultural contact quality, and cultural identity clarity, using questionnaire responses of 255 Australians. The results supported our hypothesis that polyculturalism is associated with higher ethnocultural empathy and higher-quality intercultural contact and with higher flourishing through these pathways. Simultaneously, polyculturalism also associated with lower cultural identity clarity and indirectly with lower flourishing through this pathway. In contrast, the results did not support the link between these mediators and multiculturalism or colorblindness. Our findings indicate that polyculturalism has both positive and negative associations with eudaimonic well-being for those who endorse this ideology and suggest the increasing relevance of polyculturalism for Australians and the need for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have explored the role of social capital in migrant well-being. This is important to examine, as changes in social capital are often expected following migration. The present study, using standardised measures, investigated the relationships of two components of social capital – generalised trust and network resources – with two dimensions of well-being – flourishing and psychological distress – among 1036 Australian migrants. Participants completed a national online survey and were from four different cultural backgrounds (Anglo, Other European, Indian, Chinese). Compared to the Anglo group, the Indian group was found to have lower levels of both generalised trust and network resources. The Chinese group had lower levels of generalised trust but similar levels of network resources. Multiple regression analyses found higher generalised trust was linked to higher flourishing and lower psychological distress for all groups. For network resources, however, all groups had an association with higher flourishing, except for the Other European group, while the only group with an association with lower psychological distress and network resources was the Chinese group. These results suggest that generalised trust has some positive implications for migrant well-being, consistent with previous research. This study also suggests that the role of network resources in psychological well-being and its development may vary across different groups of migrants and requires further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the relationship between migrants' psychological well-being and the extent to which they keep in touch with people in their country of origin. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey completed by 1,328 Australian migrants from 4 cultural groups (Anglo, Southern Asian, Confucian Asian and other European) assessed 2 facets of well-being, namely, flourishing and psychological distress and the use of 3 modes of online communication, namely, social media, messaging services and phone/video services. Findings: Overall, keeping in touch with family and friends in their country of origin was associated with more flourishing and less distress amongst migrants. Nonetheless, the preferred modes of communication and how those usages relate with well-being varied considerably across cultural groups. In the Anglo group, communicating through messaging and phone/video services was associated with lower distress and communicating in all modes was associated with higher flourishing. Furthermore, the latter link was accounted for by having a meaningful conversation. Originality/value: These findings suggest that the psychological well-being of migrant populations may be supported by an understanding of the distinct roles played by specific communication modes that are used to stay in touch with family and friends back home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the access that culturally diverse migrant groups in Australia have to different sources of social support and how this access, or lack thereof, is associated with psychological flourishing and distress. A national online survey was conducted with 1334 migrants in Australia, examining 11 different sources of social support, including family, friends, relationship partner, acquaintances, work colleagues, health professionals, government agencies, community organisations, religious groups, social groups and online groups. We also examined migrants from different cultural groups. All sources of support were significantly associated with mental health, but somewhat differently for the dimensions of distress and flourishing. Flourishing was linked to higher support from all 11 sources, though not for all cultural groups. High psychological distress was linked to lower support only from family, friends, a partner, acquaintances, work colleagues and social groups, and only for some cultural groups. In particular, for distress, there was no link between migrants from Southern Asia and family support, as well as Confucian Asia groups and friend support. Understanding where migrants from different cultural origins draw their support from could help policymakers and support workers improve health and well-being in migrant populations, especially by focusing on sources of support that are linked to lower distress and greater flourishing, as indicated in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The happiness or flourishing of migrants in their new country has important implications for health and social costs. Most migrant well-being studies only focus on psychological distress. Here, we specifically examine demographic, social, and psychological factors related to a broader spectrum of well-being, not only distress but also flourishing. A national online survey was conducted involving 1446 migrants to Australia. Drawing on the Dual Continuum Model, we examined flourishing and distress as separate outcomes. Numerous factors were associated with both outcomes, including experiences of racism or discrimination, being satisfied with new friendships and wishing to go back to one's home country. However, some factors varied by outcome, including younger age linked to distress but not to flourishing. Also, identifying with being Australian and the source of income were some factors specifically linked to a greater likelihood of flourishing. Promoting flourishing appears to depend on a range of different factors than simply preventing distress. These findings provide a greater understanding of the unique challenges that migrants can face in mental health outcomes, and can help prevent distress and promote flourishing and happiness as goals in migrant well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals who are high, relative to low, in mindfulness are more open when ascribing meanings to new experiences and more resilient under stress, suggesting that mindfulness may play an important role in cross-cultural adaptation. In contrast, those high in need for cognitive closure (NCC) seem to close one’s mind to new cross-cultural experiences. We tested these contrasting effects of mindfulness and NCC by examining Asian international students ( n = 233) who study at an Australian university using several measures of psychological and sociocultural adjustment. The study found that more mindful sojourners develop greater sociocultural skills and superior knowledge of a unique local culture. The role of need for cognitive closure (NCC)―closed-mindedness spurred by a desire for clear-cut understanding―was found primarily in the domain of psychological adjustment. The results highlight the importance of these dimensions of open- versus closed-mindedness during cross-cultural adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Folk theory of social change (FTSC) is a generic knowledge structure that frames societal perceptions. According to FTSC, society develops from a traditional community where people are trustworthy though unsophisticated to a more sophisticated, but less warm-hearted modern society. People make future forecast about society within this generic structure while flexibly incorporating particular information about the past history and the present social trend. We report evidence for the proposition that globalization provides particular information that people incorporate in forming their future societal perceptions. We take an intranational perspective by examining people's beliefs about globalization (Study 1) and a cross-national perspective by comparing future societal perceptions in People's Republic of China, Japan, and Australia (Study 2). We suggest that future societal perceptions may play a constitutive role in the future of humanity, and FTSC and folk beliefs about globalization are a significant part of this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparison of social identification processes in Australia and Japan found some similarities and differences. In both countries, identification with smaller face-to-face groups was found to be stronger than identification with larger social categories; however, Australians scored higher on the affective dimension of social identification, whereas Japanese scored higher on the cognitive dimension. Moreover, positive situations from Australia and negative situations from Japan were estimated by respondents from both cultures to be more influential in determining how much they identify with their ingroups, showing a cultural situation-bias effect. Situational affordances of social identification across cultures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the role of trust in group processes has been well established, less is known about the role of trust in social network processes. Trust, conceptualized to have generalized and particularistic aspects, was measured by generalized trust (people can be trusted in general) and relationism (people can be trusted if one has relationships), and their relations with social network characteristics of network homogeneity (extent to which one has a number of friends with similar attitudes) and network closure (extent to which one's social network is closed) were examined in three Western (Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom) and two East Asian countries (Japan and Korea). Although generalized trust was shown to be positively related to network closure across the five countries, generalized trust and relationism had different relations with network homogeneity in different cultures. The results were interpreted in terms of social institutional and cultural differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulatory focus theory proposes that people can have a promotion or a prevention focus when pursuing goals and choosing strategies. The Regulatory Focus Strategies Scale (RFSS), a scale that assesses the endorsement of promotion and prevention strategies for goal pursuit, is developed and validated in three studies. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in Australia and Japan showed that promotion- and prevention-focused strategic endorsement formed two largely uncorrelated factors. The RFSS exhibits adequate reliability, and discriminant and convergent validity. A cross-cultural comparison showed that Australians were more promotion- but less prevention-focused than Japanese students. The RFSS provides an additional measure that is useful in future research on self-regulatory strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the authors report an investigation of the relationship between terror management and social identity processes by testing for the effects of social identity salience on worldview validation. Two studies, with distinct populations, were conducted to test the hypothesis that mortality salience would lead to worldview validation of values related to a salient social identity. In Study 1, reasonable support for this hypothesis was found with bicultural Aboriginal Australian participants (N = 97). It was found that thoughts of death led participants to validate ingroup and reject outgroup values depending on the social identity that had been made salient. In Study 2, when their student and Australian identities were primed, respectively, Anglo-Australian students (N = 119) validated values related to those identities, exclusively. The implications of the findings for identity-based worldview validation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although differences in self-conception across cultures have been well researched, regional differences within a culture have escaped attention. The present study examined individual, relational, and collective selves, which capture people's conceptions of themselves in relation to their goals, significant others, and ingroups, comparing Australians and Japanese participants living in regional cities and metropolitan areas. Culture, gender, and urbanism were found to be related to individual, relational, and collective selves, respectively. Australians emphasized individual self more than Japanese, women stressed relational self more than men, and residents in regional cities regarded collective self as more important than their counterparts in metropolitan areas. These findings provide support for the tripartite division of the self and suggest a need to construct a culture theory that links self and societal processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]