MONDAY, July 26 (HealthDay News) -- Despite what many social
observers have described as a generally dark and brooding take on
life, a new report suggests that Russians are actually less likely
than Americans to be depressed.
In fact, researchers have uncovered indications that the Russian
cultural tendency to dwell on the negative may ultimately insulate
them from feelings of distress when engaged in self-reflection.
"Among Westerners, focusing on one's negative feelings tends to impair well-being, but among Russians, that is not the case," study co-author Igor Grossmann, a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of Michigan, said in a university news release.
"Russians focus more on their negative feelings than Americans do," Grossmann explained, "but they spontaneously distance themselves from their emotions to a greater extent than Americans, who tend to immerse themselves in their recalled experiences."
Grossmann and co-author Ethan Kross, a University of Michigan
assistant professor of psychology, published their findings in the
August issue of
Psychological Science.
Grossmann and Kross reported on two studies, funded by the U.S.
National Institute of Mental Health, that explored cultural
influences on depressive tendencies.
The first study focused on 168 Russian and American students who
underwent testing to measure their degree of brooding and
depressive symptoms. While the Russians were found to brood more,
they also displayed fewer indicators of depression than their
American counterparts.
The second study involved 162 students who were measured for
distress after being asked to remember and discuss a
not-too-distant unpleasant memory involving themselves and another
individual.
The Russians appeared to experience less distress than the
Americans after retelling the experience, and placed blame less
often on the person involved in the incident. The Russians were
also able to immediately distance themselves from their
recollections, even while discussing them -- a skill linked to less
distress and feelings of blame, the study authors noted.
Culture, concluded the authors, has an impact on the emotional
and cognitive consequences of bad experiences.
More information
For more on signs of depression, visit the
U.S. National Library of Medicine.