Social Interest and Collectivism: A Study of the New Generation of Mainland China

Abstract:Social interest, one of the key concepts within Adlerian psychology, has been extensively studied within western individualistic cultures, as well as some other collectivist cultures, but not within the Chinese collectivist culture. This study tested the relationships between Chinese young adults' scores on social interest, individualism, and collectivism. There were 266 participants between ages 18 and 26 who were undergraduate or graduate students in China. The Sulliman Scale of Social Interest and Concise Scale of Individualism–Collectivism were used. The results indicated that collectivism does not predict social interest within the young Chinese generation. However, higher individualistic levels in this sample suggested more interpersonal relationship issues. In addition, both high individualistic and collectivistic levels do not positively suggest high social interest; however, these results are discussed with the definition of social interest and the sociocultural context of the sample.