CURRENT RESEARCH PROGRAMS

Achievement Motivation

            In collaboration with Ted Thompson at the University of Tasmania, we are conducting research in the area of achievement motivation. In particular, we are investigating factors that contribute to the development of failure avoidant tendencies as demonstrated by self-worth protection, procrastination, self-handicapping, and impostor phenomenon strategies. In this regard we are involved in a series studies in which we are constructing structural equation models of the influence of family environment on the development of failure avoidant strategies. We are also investigating the structure of self-worth protection in achievement situations in general as well as in the domain of mathematics.

Cross-Cultural Research

Presently my research in this area focuses on cultural variations in social anxiety, conceptualization of the self, and body image and eating disorders.

In collaboration with Dr. Ronald A. Kleinknecht, we are investigating the similarities and difference in social anxiety between United States and Japanese social phobics. In Japan, social anxiety is expressed as a fear that one's behavior or appearance will offend others while in the, West, social anxiety is based largely on fear that one will humiliate oneself or become the object of scrutiny. We are investigating these similarities and differences in social anxiety as a function of construal of the self as either independent or interdependent. In addition, we are attempting to determine the extent to which different counseling approaches are successful in treating the symptoms of social phobia

In collaboration with Kimberly Carter, we are investigating the similarities and differences in the expression of the self between United States and Japanese university students. Given the individualistic/collectivistic dimensions of cultures, we are investigating differences in the value given to individualistic vs.collectivistic descriptions of the self, independent vs. interdependent construals of the self, and individually-oriented vs. socially-oriented descriptions of achievement motivation.

            In collaboration with Jenny Mao and Kristin Little, we are investigating cultural factors that are related to body image and eating behaviors. In particular, we are investigating the cultural factors that may differentiate adolescent females in Hong Kong from adolescent females in the United States on the basis of body image and eating behaviors. Furthermore, we are also investigating the cultural factors that may differentiate international female students attending universities in the United States from "native" female university students. Finally, we are investigating cultural differences in body image between male and female university students in Puerto Rico and the United States and eating behavior between female university students in Puerto Rico and the United States. Additionally, in collaboration with Ted Thompson, Nicole Dill and Rosanne Burton Smith at the University of Tasmania, we are investigating issues of body image guilt and shame.