Kashish S's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: The Relationship between Societal Subtypes and Psychological Wellbeing BASIS Advisor: Amy Anderson Internship Location: Native Health Onsite Mentor: Susan Levy, Communications Director

Project Abstract

My research question is “How do individualism and collectivism relate to personal psychological well-being amongst highschoolers aged 14-17 of various ethnicities in a college preparatory high school in Phoenix, Arizona?” The gap addressed by my research is the previously un-addressed gap of teenagers in high school. Many scholarly articles regarding individualism and collectivism in relation to wellbeing center around young adults, but no articles have examined the impact of the two societal characteristics on high schoolers’ wellbeing. According to the Triandis and Gelfand theory, there are two dimensions of both individualism and collectivism: the horizontal and vertical dimensions. This project will attempt to evaluate the link between community models and psychological wellbeing through a survey method. The research will also look at how individualism and collectivism influence children at adolescence, especially when looking at differences across ethnicities. The anticipated value of the research project is that certain dimensions of individualism and collectivism, like horizontal individualism, will positively influence wellbeing, while others might harm wellbeing or have no impact on wellbeing. This will also look at how individualism and collectivism influence children at adolescence, especially when looking at differences across ethnicities.