Face and Facework in Conflicts With Parents and Siblings: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Germans, Japanese, Mexicans, and U.S. Americans

The study examined the effects of national culture, self-construals, and power distance on face concerns and facework behaviors during conflicts with parents and siblings. A total of 449 participants of 4 national cultures completed a questionnaire in their respective languages: Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. The questionnaire measured 3 face concerns and 11 facework behaviors in recalled conflicts with either a sibling or a parent. The major findings of the study are as follows: (a) self-construals had strong effects on face concerns and facework with independence positively associated with self-face and dominating facework and interdependence positively associated with other- and mutual-face and integrating and avoiding facework behaviors; (b) power distance had small, positive effects on self-face, other-face, avoiding facework, and dominating facework; (c) national culture had small to medium effects with individualistic, small power distance cultures having more self-face and mutual-face and using more dominating and integrating facework and less avoiding facework; (d) Germans have more self-face and used defending more than U.S. Americans; (e) Japanese used more expression than Mexicans; and (f) individuals in conflict with parents were more likely to use respect and expression and less likely to use aggression, pretend, and third party than individuals in conflict with siblings.