Self-construals and earliest childhood memories: a new perspective from Slovakia and Denmark

Studies on self-construals and earliest childhood memories have shown significant differences across culture (Wang, 2001, 2006). However, these studies are often carried out in countries such as USA and China, considered to be prototypical representatives of individualistic and collectivistic values. To add another East-West perspective, we turn our attention to a rapidly transforming postcommunist country, Slovakia, and a Scandinavian welfare state, Denmark. Taking into consideration the specific sociocultural and historical context in these two countries, we ask: Would the young Slovaks be developing an extreme tendency towards an individualistic profile as they were born into a just established democratic regime? And, would the young Danes display more collectivistic values, as their strong sense for community could suggest? Data from 80 Slovak and 80 Danish adolescents are under analysis.