Honor and I: Differential relationships between honor and self-esteem in three cultural groups

Abstract

Honor is often defined as one's self-esteem through one's own eyes as through the eyes of others. This definition assumes that endorsing honor values is universally related to one's self-esteem. Yet, prior work shows that the salience of honor in individuals' lives differs across cultures, which implies that honor would be differentially related to self-esteem across cultural groups. In the present study, we examined the contribution of three honor components (integrity, reputation, family honor) to the prediction of self-esteem in three cultural groups (Dutch, European American, Turkish). Consistent with prior work that describes the Dutch and (Northern) European Americans as low-honor groups, we found that none of the honor components were associated with self-esteem in these groups. In the Turkish group, which has been described as a high-honor group, honor integrity was associated with higher levels of self-esteem and family honor was associated with lower levels of self-esteem. Taken together, the findings indicate that honor cannot be universally defined as one's self-esteem, since the salience of honor endorsement for one's self-esteem differs across cultural groups.