Multiple Selves, Multiple Worlds: Cultural Perspectives on Individuality and Connectedness in Adolescent Development

Studies of culture and human development often compare individuals from different national or cultural groups on the basis of two global qualities: individualism and collectivism (Greenfield & Cocking, 1994; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis, 1995). These are often portrayed as mutually exclusive values, stable over time, and typical of individuals in each group. For example, the United States and Europe are considered individualistic cultures and Africa, Asia, and Latin America as collectivist or communal. Perhaps because of this categorical approach, culture is often considered separately from indicators of variation and change within groups, such as age, gender, occupation, employment, poverty, generation of immigration, education, ethnicity, or “race.”