TY - JOUR
T1 - The Cross-Cultural Relevance of Indigenous Measures: The South African Personality Inventory (SAPI), Family Orientation, and Well-Being in New Zealand
AU - Fetvadjiev, Velichko H.
AU - Neha, Tia
AU - Van De Vijver, Fons J. R.
AU - Mcmanus, Martin
AU - Meiring, Deon
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by a start-up grant from the School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, to the first author.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2021/1/1
Y1 - 2021/1/1
N2 - Indigenous personality research often remains limited to its cultural context of origin. Previous cross-cultural examinations of indigenous models have typically focused on East–West comparisons and have paid scant attention to the predictive validity of indigenous models in new contexts. The present study addresses the replicability of the South African Personality Inventory (SAPI) and its predictive validity for family orientation and well-being in New Zealand European (n = 428) and Māori students (n = 226). The structure of the SAPI in New Zealand was equivalent to the structure identified in South Africa and had metric invariance between the two New Zealand groups. The SAPI social-relational scales explained additional variance above neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness in family orientation, but not in well-being. Mediation path analyses suggested that personality played a similar role for family orientation and well-being in the two groups when assessed by the SAPI, although group differences were suggested when using the Big Five Inventory. Our findings indicate that indigenously derived models, developed with the aim to represent culturally salient concepts, can be relevant well beyond their culture of origin and offer an enriched understanding of personality’s role for important outcomes across cultures.
AB - Indigenous personality research often remains limited to its cultural context of origin. Previous cross-cultural examinations of indigenous models have typically focused on East–West comparisons and have paid scant attention to the predictive validity of indigenous models in new contexts. The present study addresses the replicability of the South African Personality Inventory (SAPI) and its predictive validity for family orientation and well-being in New Zealand European (n = 428) and Māori students (n = 226). The structure of the SAPI in New Zealand was equivalent to the structure identified in South Africa and had metric invariance between the two New Zealand groups. The SAPI social-relational scales explained additional variance above neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness in family orientation, but not in well-being. Mediation path analyses suggested that personality played a similar role for family orientation and well-being in the two groups when assessed by the SAPI, although group differences were suggested when using the Big Five Inventory. Our findings indicate that indigenously derived models, developed with the aim to represent culturally salient concepts, can be relevant well beyond their culture of origin and offer an enriched understanding of personality’s role for important outcomes across cultures.
KW - cross-cultural research
KW - emic–etic approach
KW - indigenous models
KW - personality and culture
KW - social-relational concepts
U2 - 10.1177/0022022120969979
DO - 10.1177/0022022120969979
M3 - Article
VL - 52
SP - 3
EP - 21
JO - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
JF - Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
SN - 0022-0221
IS - 1
ER -