A Cross-Cultural Study of Self-Defining Memories and Academic Stress in Indian and American College Students

Exploring cultural components of self-defining memories (SDM) is crucial in autobiographical memory research. Although SDMs are highly individualized expressions of individuals’ narrative identity, we attempted to examine in the present study if there is an emphasis on academic stress in the SDMs recalled by Indian college students, when compared with American college students. We indeed observed that Indian students were more likely than their American peers to recall SDMs reflecting academic stress, particularly achievement-related, despite reporting comparable levels of academic stress when assessed using a self-report questionnaire. Our study was also the first to examine how cultural differences in the self-awareness of one's narrative identity in Indian vs. American students map into their SDMs. Specifically, we found that positive affect predicted narrative awareness and coherence most consistently across four facets of narrative identity, again exclusively in the American sample. Our findings shed light on the differences in cultural nuances that shape the self-understanding of Indian and American students.