Investigating interdependent self in post-communist countries: A comparison of two Slovak and Danish generations

Some evidence suggests prevalence of collectivist values and interdependent self in post-communist Europe. However, research on social representations identifies a possible divide between Eastern Europeans’ appreciation of their immediate social environment on the one hand and their suspicion toward impersonal collectives on the other. The current study aimed to capture this divide by investigating two types of interdependent self, namely relational and collective. Specifically, we compared self-descriptions in two Slovak samples—“old” with a communist experience (n = 80) and “young” without it (n = 80)—and used a country that has never been communist (Denmark; n = 80 x 2) to control for age effects. Results showed predominance of independent self in all groups, higher relational self in both old groups, and highest collective self among the young Slovaks. This indicates no association between communist experience and interdependent self, but a possible post-communist effect is suggested. Theoretically, the study substantiated the importance of disentangling interdependence.