Culture as a Lens: Examining How Collectivistic Orientation Influences the Identity Consistency-Wellbeing Relationship

This study investigated collectivistic cultural orientation distinguishing between normative (perceived norms) and evaluative (personal values) dimensions as a moderator between identity consistency (IC) and wellbeing. The sample comprised of 412 adults, grouped into four equal groups (103 each) of younger and older males and females from a strongly collectivistic community of the Mizo in India. Moderation analyses revealed that at moderate to high level of Normative collectivistic orientation, Identity Consistency– Social Wellbeing link was significant only for young men. For older men with high evaluative scores on collectivistic orientation, Identity Consistency negatively predicted Emotional health, whereas for young and older women with high evaluative scores, Identity Consistency positively predicted Emotional, Psychological, and overall mental health. Findings indicated Identity Consistency as universally essential for wellbeing, demonstrating that its impact is critically shaped by an individual’s specific cultural orientation within cultural contexts