Autonomy-Connectedness in Collectivistic Cultures: An exploratory cross-cultural study among Portuguese natives, Cape-Verdean and Chinese people residing in Portugal

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I -Introduction
One of the biggest and most common shortcomings attributed to cultural studies is that they are reductionist, thus the approach is frequently limited to the dichotomy of individualism and collectivism (Greenfield, Keller, Fuligni & Maynard, 2003). However, individualism and collectivism are the aspects that can most commonly be differentiated among cultures, since they can be related not only to universal aspects but also to culturespecific aspects (Triandis & Suh, 2002).
Thus, just like biology, culture also influences the development of personality traits (Triandis et al, 2002). This study aims to further understand the link between autonomy and culture. Autonomy is an individual personality characteristic (related to the acquisition of independence) that varies across cultures and ethnic groups in the same society. It is a crucial characteristic that differentiates cultures in individualistic and collectivistic pathways of development (Greenfield et al, 2003). It is also related to the age and development of the individual, and to other factors such as sex and gender.
The present study focuses on a recent personality trait construct, originating from developmental and clinical psychology. Autonomy-connectedness is an upgrade of the classical definition of the human autonomy trait, and it includes in its conceptualization both notions of independence and interdependence (Bekker, 1993). This study highlights the importance of cross-cultural sensitive instruments and also aims to contribute to the theoretical framework of this emerging concept.
The second chapter of this research focuses on the literature's review on the concept of autonomy-connectedness, i.e., studies that have been conducted based on this construct as well as its interface with concepts resulting from cross-cultural psychology.
The goals and investigation hypotheses are presented at the end of this chapter.
The third chapter describes Study I, in particular methodology, descriptive analysis of the participants, procedures and description of the instrument. Results regarding Study I, as well as their brief discussion, are also presented in this chapter.
The fourth chapter describes Study II, referring the methodology used for the study. Similarly to chapter three, results concerning Study II are also presented in this chapter.
The fifth chapter focuses on general discussion and conclusions, respectively.

II -Literature Review
"Human experience of identity has two elements: a sense of belonging and a sense of being separated. The laboratory in which these ingredients are mixed and dispended is the family, the matrix of identity." (Salvador Minuchin. 1974, p.47) 2.1. Autonomy-Connectedness 2.1.1. From Autonomy to Autonomy-Connectedness The concept of autonomy is widely studied in Psychology. Piaget, Erikson, and many others authors in the fields of Developmental Psychology and Personality have written about this concept.
For Piaget (1983), autonomy is the goal of education. The entire development process, the mastery of language, the ability to think abstractly and make moral judgments are all directed to gaining autonomy.
In Erikson's theory of psychosocial development (1980), autonomy is presented as the second stage of development, autonomy vs. shame/doubt. This step concerns the maturation of the muscular system of the child, which relates in the capacity (or incapacity) of the child to control the sphincters. The child also learns to coordinate a large number of actions (including language and the ability to say "no"), which renders a sense of autonomy (Erikson, 1980). In Mahler's (1975) psychoanalytic perspective, autonomy is linked to the separation-individuation theory of child development. The separation-individuation phase refers to the formation of a sense of separateness from, and is related to, the world.
Described almost as two opposites of the same continuum, the separation refers to the child's growth from a symbiotic fusion with the mother and the individuation involves the child's achievements, making him/her aware of his/hers own individual characteristics.
In Baltes' (1987) theory of life-span development, autonomy appears under the representation of gains, the acquisition of new skills and knowledge throughout the developmental process.
In the Self-determination theory, autonomy is linked to self-governance, and is defined as psychological need that enables growth and adaptive functioning (Deci & Ryan, 1985;cited by Hmel & Pincus, 2002).
Autonomy also appears to be a crucial concept in therapeutic approaches, especially in experiential psychotherapy and existential psychotherapy. Influenced a priori by existentialism and phenomenology, these therapeutic approaches seek to help promoting personal growth of the individual, focusing on the individual rather than on the mental disorder. Existential and experiential psychotherapy favor the self and the selfdetermination of the individual (Teixeira, 2006;Yalom, 1980). However, despite the relevance of the concept of autonomy in literature, as well as its importance in human experience, there is an absence of homogeneity, not only theoretical but also of the operational definition commonly used. (Hmel & Pincus 2002).
One of the reasons for this diversity has to do with how culture relates to the concept of autonomy.
The link between culture, self-construal's and personality traits has been studied for decades. Triamdis (1989) has argued that private selves (cognitions of one's 'own personality characteristics, traits and behaviors) are emphasized in individualistic cultures, whereas in collectivistic cultures, the collective self (cognition about group membership) is emphasized (cited by Trafimow, Triandis & Goto, 1991). Markus and Kitayama (2010) have studied culture at an individual level, and have discovered differences in the construction of individual identities. The self-concepts are implicitly and explicitly involved in all aspects of behavior: attention, perception, cognition, emotion, motivation, relationships and group processes. Hence, self-concepts continuously recruit and organize specific self-regulation schemes, including cognitive, emotional, motivational, somatic and behavioral schemes. These authors described two kinds of self-concepts, the independent self-concept and the interdependent self-concept.
When the self-concept is independent, individuals tend to have a sense of identity separate from others, focusing more on themselves and their own goals, expressing individual feelings and opinions. When the self-concept is interdependent, individuals tend to have a sense of themselves as an embedded part of a network of social relations. Thus, these individuals tend to focus on others, and their actions and goals are dependent on the actions and goals of others.
This duality of identity constructs overlaps with a recent concept of autonomyautonomy-connectedness.
The concept of autonomy-connectedness was developed by Bekker (1993) and it intends to reflect a notion of autonomy more sensitive towards gender and culture rather than a value based on individualism and masculinity. This recent concept of autonomy Autonomy-Connectedness in Collectivistic Cultures 4 incorporates in its conceptualization the notions of independence and interdependence, which are closely connected with the theoretical basis of gender identification and attachment that are cornerstones of this feature.
By attachment processes, we refer to the biological-based scheme that stimulates the bonding between child and his/her primary caregiver (usually, and more commonly, the mother). This system is activated when the child perceives a threat or is distressed, and encourages the connection to the attachment figure, functioning as a safe harbor for the child. According to attachment theory, secure attachment experiences lead to healthy autonomy (Bowlby, 1969;Ainsworth & Bowlby, 1991).
This link is developed throughout childhood and is transposed into adulthood. Gender identification results from the socialization process; it is closely related to social and cultural expectations of gender roles, as well as to the male and female stereotypes (Gleitman, Fridlund & Reisberg, 2011). Aboim (2010) showed in his study that in contemporary Europe, the role of men and women in society differs from country to country in four general postulated dimensionsmotherhood, independence of women, deinstitutionalization of family and caring men. Comparing 15 European countries, one of his results showed that in countries with former communist regimes as well as in Portugal, the role of women in motherhood dimension was associated with more traditional beliefs, when compared to other countries. Sex-differences in self-direction values were smaller in wealthier and more industrialized countries, which have a more individualistic based culture, than in poorer countries with more collectivist and embedded cultures (Schwartz and Rubel, 2005; cited by Schmitt, Realo, Voracek & Allik, 2008;Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991).

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Thus, by definition, autonomy-connectedness reflects a dichotomy between the need and the ability the individual has to trust himself/herself and to be independent, as well as the need and the capacity for intimacy and satisfying intimate relationships. (Bekker & Van Assen, 2006;Van Assen & Bekker, 2009).
Three dimensions are proposed for this construct -Self-awareness (SA), Sensitivity to others (SO) and Capacity for managing new situations (CMNS). The SA dimension refers to the ability that individuals have of being aware of themselves, of their own opinions, ambitions and needs as well as the ability of expressing them in social interactions. The SO dimension refers to empathy and the call individuals have for both intimacy and separation. The CMNS refers to the feeling of (dis)comfort occurring when individuals are faced with new situations; therefore, it relates to the tendency of exploring new environments/dependence on familiar structures (Bekker & Van Assen, 2006).

Autonomy-Connectedness, and Gender Differences
Significant gender differences have consistently been found in autonomyconnectedness, especially in the SO dimension. Women tend to score higher in this dimension than men (Bekker & Van Assen, 2008). The results have also shown that variables such as socioeconomic status, education and income are positively associated with SA and CMNS components, and these sociodemographic variables are usually associated with sex differences in which men tend to reveal higher scores. Furthermore, Bekker and Belt (2006) set out to examine a potential relationship between the construct of autonomy-connected and depression, and anxiety (specific psychopathologies which are more prevalent among women). In this study, the authors compared two groups of participants, a group of institutionalized patients in a center of mental care and another group, composed of university students, which was handled as the control group. The group of patients showed lower values in the dimension SA and CMNS, and high values in the SO dimension. These results suggest that for disturbances that have a higher prevalence in women than men, such as depression and anxiety do, this pattern of high values in the SO component and low values in the SA component seems to be significant.

Autonomy-connectedness and The Big Five
Van Assen and Bekker (2009) showed a connection between the components of autonomy-connected and the big five personality factors. Their goal in this study was to examine to what extent autonomy-connectedness could be explained by the five major 6 personality factors, and if gender differences in the construct of autonomy-connectedness could be mediated by the five major personality factors. The results showed that SA and CMNS components had positive associations with Openness to Experience and Extraversion and negative associations with Agreeableness and Neuroticism. On the other hand, the SO component had positive associations with Agreeableness and Neuroticism and negative associations with Openness and Extraversion. The Conscientiousness factor correlated positively, solely, to the SA component, not appearing to be in any way related to SO and CMNS components. They reasoned that the big five, i) are not mediators of gender differences in the components of autonomy-connectedness and, ii) can only explain part of the variance in the three construct components of autonomyconnectedness, which means that the construct may not be restricted or inserted in these personality factors, thus requiring to be considered as a distinct characteristic personality.

Culture and Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions
Defining the concept of culture is complex and controversial. In a simplified way, culture is when we are before a collection of information/meanings that satisfy three conditions, i) this information is non genetically transmitted between individuals; ii) this information is more or less shared within a population of individuals, and iii) this information is transgenerational, it is sustained in a population of individuals over a period of time (Kashima p. 176, in Levine & Hogg, 2010). "Culture" is defined as the belief systems and value orientations that influence customs, norms, practices, and social institutions, including psychological processes (language, care taking practices, media, educational systems) and organizations (media, educational systems; Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, & Nisbett, 1998). Inherent to this definition is the acknowledgement that all individuals are cultural beings and have a cultural, ethnic, and racial heritage. Culture has been described as the embodiment of a worldview through learned and transmitted beliefs, values, and practices, including religious and spiritual traditions. It also encompasses a way of living informed by the historical, economic, ecological, and political forces a group is subjected to. These definitions suggest that culture is fluid and dynamic, and that there are both cultural universal phenomena as well as culturally specific or relative constructs (APA, 2002 (Schwarts, 2013, p. 8). In his shared-meaning models of culture, Schwarts (2013) defines culture as a system of meaning that exists "external to the individual" (p. 5). According to this author, culture is a system of values that operates at an external mode and can be measured by aggregated country-level values.
In a similar view of aggregating cultural patterns of values at a societal level, Greet Hofstede (1980) defined four value based cultural dimensions. These dimensions would be used to differentiate between societies. The original dimensions are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs. collectivism, e masculinity vs.
femininity. In more recent years, Hofstede and colleges added two more dimensions, indulgence vs. restraint and long-term vs. short-term orientation, the last of which was redesigned and renamed pragmatism .
The individualism vs. collectivism dimension is related to the incorporation of individuals into primary groups. This dimension reflects the position of a culture on a bipolar continuum. At the individualistic pole, cultures foster loose relationships between the individuals, individuals are expected to look after themselves and their immediate family. At the other end of the spectrum, in the collectivistic pole exists an implicit idea of "we". Individuals are integrated, from birth, into solid, consistent in-groups, that are most of the time like extended families. These in-groups serve as protectors in exchange for unquestioning loyalty  The power distance dimension defines the extent to which members of organizations or institutions with less power, such as family, accept and expect power distribution to be differentiated within the society. There is a clear distinction between more and less power distance and this power hierarchy is structured at the basis, i.e., this hierarchy is due both to the followers as the leaders. .
The uncertainty avoidance dimension can be defined as the ability of a society to deal with ambiguous situations. This dimension shows us the extent to which societies prepare their members for unstructured situations, i.e., new and unknown situations that differ from usual or familiar ones, where the rules and standards of conduct are not clear .

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The masculinity vs. femininity dimension sets the distribution of male and female values within a given society. Societies that are considered more masculine tend to be more restrictive, and societies that are more feminine tend to be more flexible. .
Most cross-cultural studies have focused on the individualism-collectivism dualism, consequently, on the independence-interdependence relationship. As a result, there is a considerable amount of information about these dimensions and a reference gap to the other dimensions (Cohen, 2010;Taras, Kirkman & Steel, 2010).
In their meta-analysis, Taras, Kirkman and Steel (2010) reviewed a total of 598 studies, equivalent to three decades of research within the cultural dimensions of Hofstede. In order to evaluate the relationship between the four original dimensions with a variety of relevant organizational results, the authors demonstrated that the four cultural dimensions are similarly predictive with regard to the organizational level results (at an individual level of analysis); when contrasted with personality traits, the predictive value of the cultural dimensions is higher with regard to organizational commitment, citizenship behaviors and attitudes towards working in groups, but is lower in results such as work performance and absenteeism; the cultural dimensions are significantly related, primarily to emotions, and followed by attitudes and behaviors.

The influences of acculturation in people's lives and autonomy-connectedness
"What happens to individuals, who have developed in one cultural context, when they attempt to live in a new cultural context?" (Berry, 1997, p.6) This question was asked by John W. Berry, considered by some the father of modern approaches of acculturation. By acculturation, we are referring to the twofold process of psychological and cultural change, which takes into account several forms of mutual accommodation that occur as a consequence of interaction between two or more cultural groups and their individual members. At the individual level, acculturation implies changes in a person's behavioral repertoire; at a group level, it involves changes in social organizations and in cultural practices (Berry, 2005). Cultural variables such as life circumstances can influence one's state of well-being. This notion of a good and happy life is very important to understand not only the individual perspective but also the societal one. "It is hard to imagine that a dissatisfied and depressed culture would be an ideal society, no matter how desirable it is in other respects" (Diener, Oishi & Lucas, 2003, p. 405).

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The strategies of acculturation follow two crucial rules, that is to say i) to what extent the individual wants to maintain the culture's identity and values, and ii) to what extent the individual participates and is involved in the new culture. So, the maintenance of the original culture values, and the contact and participation in the new culture give rise to the conceptual framework for the acculturation strategies. When in the migrants' shoes (that because when groups with different cultural backgrounds interact within one society, it is assumed there is a dominant group, which corresponds to the native-born individuals of that society, and the non-dominant groups, that correspond to the migrants) there are four possible acculturation strategies, i.e. assimilation, separation, marginalization, and integration (Berry, 1997). When the migrant has a low wish for cultural maintenance and at the same time has continuous contact/is involved with the new culture, the strategy that emerges is assimilation. When the opposite occurs, high cultural maintenance and low contact and participation, the strategy of separation occurs.
Then, on the other hand, when there is no interest, neither in maintaining the original culture's values nor getting involved in the new culture, the marginalization strategy occurs. Finally, when both conceptual axes are positive, the migrant wants to maintain certain aspects of his cultural identity and at the same time contacts with, and participates in the new culture, the integration strategy arises (Berry, 1997). Years of residence in a host culture as natives are markers used to asses' acculturation. Although neither of them can explain the loss or preservation of a culture's original practices, nativity and years of residence can explain the adoption of host-cultural practices, being the effect of years of residence more significant in adolescent girls and females who immigrated in their youth. (Schwartz, Pantin, Sullivan, Prado & Szapocznik, 2006). Acculturation can be positive or negatively influenced by a variety of factors, from characteristics at the level of the individual to contextual factors. Personality traits such as extraversion can positively influence the acculturation process as it facilitated communication (Silventoinen, Hammar, Hedlund, Koskenvuo, Ronnemaa & Kaprio, 2007).
In an attempt to explore the relationship between the Big Five personality traits and cross-cultural adjustment, Ward, Leong and Low (2004) demonstrated that neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness are all linked to psychological well-being and sociocultural adaptation. In this study, not only individuallevel characteristic traits, but also contextual ones were explored. The study compared host individual and sojourner samples in Australia, as well as host individuals and sojourners in Singapore. By sojourners we mean migrants, since they are individuals who travel voluntarily to another country, though in pursuit of a specific goal within a specific timeframe (Berry, 1997).
Despite the studies and findings made in the field of acculturation, meta-analytic examination is required, since the link between personality and acculturation is still unclear (Sam & Berry, 2010).

Autonomy-connectedness and Hofstede's Cultural dimensions
Bekker, Arends-Tóth and Croon (2011) studied the relation between autonomyconnectedness and the adherence to cultural values of independence and interdependences. This study was conducted with young adult women, some native from Netherlands and others with immigrant background. This is the only study, so far, that incorporates the relation between autonomyconnectedness and cultural dimensions. However, it sits on the individualism vs. collectivism sphere. The goals for this study were i) comparing the levels of the three autonomy-connectedness components of immigrant respondents from countries categorized as collectivistic, with those of native Dutch respondents being categorized as individualistic; ii) comparing the adherence to independence-and to interdependencerelated values; iii) analyzing the contribution of acculturation to each of the three autonomy-connectedness components and adherence to both independence and interdependence values. For the first hypothesis, it was expected that the immigrant group (the collectivistic labeled group) would be lower in self-awareness and higher in sensitivity to others, when compared to Netherlands native group. According to the results, this hypothesis was not sustained. Both groups had similar levels of selfawareness (as well as capacity for managing new situations), and sensitivity to others was, contrary to expectations, lower in the immigrant group than in the Netherlands native group (Bekker, Arends-Tóth & Croon, 2011). The second hypothesis was partly confirmed. The results showed that, indeed, higher values of interdependence were more highly associated with the immigrant group than the native Dutch group. However, no differences were found in the level of adherence to independence. The influence of adherence to independence and to interdependence to the three components of autonomyconnectedness was also examined, and the results also showed that higher levels of independence were associated with higher levels of self-awareness, and higher levels of adherence to interdependence to higher levels of sensitivity to others. Finally, for the third hypothesis, the results showed that it was partly supported. A higher preservation of the original culture contributed to a higher level of sensitivity to others as well as to a higher adherence to interdependence. However, more adaptation to the new culture was not related to a higher level of self-awareness, neither to a higher level of independence (Bekker, Arends-Tóth & Croon, 2011).

Definition of the Problem
Up to the present, the construct of autonomy-connectedness had been largely studied in the Dutch population, existing solely one study that included immigrants (from Morocco or Turkey) residing in the Netherlands. Therefore, there is the need to understand if the construct is valid across other populations in order to extend its external validity. In the present study, we aim to assess the Portuguese population in terms of autonomyconnectedness, as well as differences between different cultural groups, assuming that they share some characteristics and differ in others.
In the present study, the groups that will be compared in their levels of autonomyconnectedness are all labeled as collectivistic. According to the information on the Hofstede's Center, Portugal, China and Cape Verde are three collectivistic cultures (see figure 2.1). A collectivistic culture is generally defined as a cohesive in-group network, where individuals are born into. The distinction between in-group and out-group is strongly defined and the sense of belonging is early learned to be appreciated . Both of the immigrant groups represent large foreign communities living in Portugal. According to the Foreign and Borders Service (SEF, 2013), Cape Verde is the second largest foreign community in Portugal, that equals to a number of 42,401 people.
China in turn, represents the sixth largest foreign community in Portugal, with 18,637 people residing in this country. According to statistical data provided by the Foreign and Borders Service in 2013, the Chinese community in Portugal increased by 6.8% (SEF, 2013, p.10).
As seen in Figure 2.1, Portugal, China and Cape Verde score differently in the masculinity vs. femininity (M/F) and uncertainty avoidance (UA) dimensions. Portugal presents the highest value for the UA dimension. This means that compared to China and Cape Verde, Portugal is an uncertainty avoidant culture, which is intolerant to what is different (divergences are perceived as dangerous); members of this society experience more stress and anxiety, and lower subjective well-being; there is a strong need for structure, clarity and rules since the intrinsic ambiguity of life is perceived as a threat.

*Adapted from hofstedecenter.com
On the other hand, from these three countries, China is the one presenting the highest values in the M/F dimension. In other words, this means that in the Chinese culture, gender differences are very strict and taken into account; society expects men to be strong, assertive and ambitious; family and relationships come in second place, while work prevails above all. Cape Verde presents medium scores, though it presents the lowest score on the M/F dimension, being therefore the most feminine culture presented herein .
If we overlap the definitions of the autonomy-connectedness subscales to the culture dimension of I/C, M/F and UA, we can see some similarities between them. The SA subscale focuses on the individual ability of self-consciousness as one apart of the others. In a direct contrast to the cultural dimensions, we could say that the SA dimension reflects the individualist pole in I/C dimension. On the other hand, the SO subscale focuses on sensitivity to others, reflecting the other pole of I/C dimension. However, the SO subscale can also echo the value pattern of feminine cultures. The CMNS subscale relates to feelings of (dis)comfort in new environments, the need or tendency to explore or depend on what is known. This can be related to the cultural value patter of UA, since both operate with the notion of familiar and unfamiliar contexts. Using an exploratory approach, the present study presents two major goals, i) a descriptive analyses of the autonomy-connectedness construct in the Portuguese population, and ii) a descriptive and comparative analyses of the autonomyconnectedness constructs among Portuguese individuals and residing immigrants, i.e.
Chinese and Cape-Verdeans immigrants. To achieve these goals, two studies have been conducted.
In Study I, the goal was to assess the scores in the three sub-dimensions of the autonomy-connectedness construct among the Portuguese population, as well as explore sex differences. With Study I we expect: H1: ACS-30 (Portuguese version) will present adequate psychometric properties with a three dimensional structure; H2: Sex differences will be found, with women having higher scores on SO.
In Study II, the goal was to compare Portuguese natives, and Chinese and Cape- Furthermore, we will explore the effects of acculturations on the three dimensions and group differences.  The SA subscale aims to measure the individual's ability to be aware/consciousness of their own opinions, desires, needs, and the ability to express these in social interactions.

III -Study I
In the original version (Bekker's & Van Assen, 2006), this subscale presented a 0.81 value for Cronbach's alpha, therefore presenting a satisfactory value in terms of internal consistency. An item example of this subscale is "I have strong opinions on most issues." The SO subscale is related to empathy and the individual's ability/need of intimacy and separation; it aims to measure the sensitivity of individuals to the opinions, wishes and needs of others. For the subscale sensitivity to others, Cronbach's alpha was 0.83 (Bekker 1 In this study ACS-30 was incorporated in a bigger questionnaire set that included two other instruments, namely Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence, Helmreich & Holahan, 1979) and Unmitigated Communion Scale by Helgeson (1993). Both instruments aim to assess differentiated attributes related to gender expressions and gender roles. 2 The translation process, factor analyses and internal consistency of the scale are presented in the Results. We will address the Portuguese translation version as ACS-30.
& Van Assen, 2006). An item example is: "I tend to get too involved in the feelings of others." The CMNS subscale refers to the feelings of (dis)comfort in situations and new contexts; the trend of exploiting and depending on environments / family structures.
Likewise, the CMNS subscale presents satisfactory internal consistency with a Cronbach´s alpha value of 0.82. A representative item of this subscale is, for example, "I feel instantly at ease in new situations." (Bekker & Van Assen, 2006   Regarding the variables Age and Education, only one correlation was found to be significant, between age and CMNS. However, it was not a very strong correlation. (see Table 3.5)
Age and Capacity for managing new situations were positively linked. In other words, the older an individual is, the more capable they seem to be of dealing with new contexts. Although the correlation between Age and CMNS was small, it can be related to the acquisition of new knowledge and skills that come from the developmental process itself (Baltes, 1987). Education level seems to have no influence in autonomyconnectedness.
Compared to the values from the original study (see Bekker et al, 2006), the Portuguese population appeared to present relatively lower scores than the Dutch population on SA and SO, and presented slightly higher scores on CMNS. Regarding sex differences, on average scores of the three subscales, Portuguese men appeared to present lower scores on SA (M=3.69) than Dutch men (M=3.92). Generally, Dutch people 20 seemed to be more self-aware than Portuguese people. This can be related to the fact that the Dutch culture is more individualistic and the Portuguese culture is more collectivistic.

As a separated individual personality characteristic (Van Assen & Bekker, 2009),
autonomy-connectedness presents a gender differentiated focus. The fact that women consistently score higher on sensitivity to others outlines social gender constructs as well as social gender stereotypes of women in occidental societies, with sex differences in personality traits becoming more extreme (Aboim, 2010;Schmitt, Realo, Voracek & Allik, 2008).

-Participants
In this study, three sample groups were analyzed, namely Portuguese natives (P-Group), Chinese immigrants residing in Portugal (CH-Group), and Cape Verdean immigrants residing in Portugal (CV-Group) (n P-Group=30; n CH-Group=30; n CV-Group=30, N=90).  Just like in Study I, the questionnaire was distributed online via email and social media networks. At the same time, it was also distributed in a pen and paper form. A snowball sampling process was used.

-Results
In terms of scoring, the P-Group presented slightly higher scores on SA ( Table 4.

2)
In order to investigate if the differences were statistically significant for each dimension, we conducted a set of Univariate Analyses of Variance between all three groups for the SA, SO and CMNS subscales (using nationality as the independent variable and ACS-30 subscales as the dependent variables). No differences were found between the groups on SO (F(2;83)=1.752 ns (p=.180)) and CMNS (F(2;86)=1.213 ns (p=.302)) subscales. However, on the SA subscale, significant differences were found, F (2; 89) = 9.295, p ≤ 0.05 (ƞ 2 =.178). To assess which groups differentiated from each other, Post Hoc Tests were conducted (see Appendix F), which revealed that Portuguese participants scored higher on SA than participants from the CH-Group.

V. General Discussion and Conclusions
The present study was conducted with two major goals in line, i) a descriptive analyses of the autonomy-connectedness construct in the Portuguese population (reviewed in Discussion of Study I), and ii) a descriptive and comparative analyses of the  , the results found herein converge with these assumptions.
As in Study I, sex differences were once again found on SO subscale, with an interaction also significant between sex and nationality. The results also showed that Portuguese presented the biggest sex differentiation on SO dimension. Portuguese women scored significantly higher on Sensitivity to Others than Portuguese men. These results provide an interesting new research avenue, namely the study of autonomyconnectedness diverse cultures.
In Study II, groups of immigrant individuals residing in Portugal were used.
Therefore, acculturation processes were taken into account. Nationality and time of residence were used as acculturation markers. The groups presented different average timeframes of residence, 50% of Cape-Verdean participants had been living in Portugal for up to seven years. On the other hand, more than 60% of Chinese participants had been living in Portugal for less than one year. The effect of time of residence was found to be significant solely on Self-awareness. Since Cape-Verdeans individuals scored higher on SA than Chinese individuals, but also had been residing for a longer period in Portugal, we can argue the relevance of time of residence in the incorporation of the host culture values (see Schwartz, et al 2006). The more time a migrant stays in a host culture, the more chances they have of adapting and integrating into the new culture. Nevertheless, this assumption emerges from a positive acculturation (assimilation or integration) strategy point of view, and takes into account contextual factors that may facilitate adaptation, such as language. 4 In another study, the contribution of acculturation to each of the three autonomy-connectedness dimensions (and both adherence to independence and to interdependence) showed that better adaptation to the new culture did not contribute to a higher level of self-awareness, thus better adaptation to the new culture did contribute to sensitivity to others (Bekker et al, 2011). However, in this study, authors used exclusively female participants, which may limit the results. In the integration strategy, both cultural value sets (original and host) are perceived as equal to the migrant (Berry, 1997) existing therefore acceptance of cultural differences (see also Bennet, 1986; Bekker et al (2006). Cape-Verdeans participants did present higher scores on Self-awareness than Chinese participants, and the former have been residing in Portugal for longer periods. Therefore, we hypothesize for further research that more time of residence in a host culture will increase the levels of self-awareness in immigrant groups, despite their willingness/or not to maintain the culture's original values.
The majority of studies done so far concerning the autonomy-connectedness construct has been performed with respondents from the Netherlands. The evidence from this study can hereby provide one first cross-cultural descriptive comparison of general non-clinical respondents. The Netherlands are, according to Hofstede's cultural dimensions (1980Hofstede's cultural dimensions ( , 1991, relatively low on Power distance and Uncertainty avoidance.
Therefore, hierarchy power differentiation is not expected/acceptable, and ambiguity is not perceived as a threat. The Netherlands are also a feminine and individualistic country.
Thus, gender fluid roles and communication go along with independent pathways of development that encourage individual self-awareness. Portugal and the Netherlands differ on all four original Hofstede's dimensions, and showed slightly different scores in the autonomy-connectedness dimensions. Nonetheless, despite cultural differences, the autonomy-connectedness construct appeared to assume similar sex differences concerning Self-awareness and Sensitivity to others dimensions, which highlights the cross-cultural relevance of gender.
Given the exploratory facet of this study, certain limitations have to be considered.
Despite being satisfactory for quantitative research, the sample size of Study II was small.
The inclusion criteria used for the immigrant groups were quite simplistic, however this was the only way found to ensure that immigrant participants were actually immigrants with no/limited cross-cultural backgrounds. It should be noted as well the difficulty in reaching out to immigrant participants, due to the fact that these communities are relatively closed to outsiders. Although all three cultures represented in Study II were Verde may sit upon a more horizontally collectivistic margin, and China may represent a more vertically collectivistic culture (see: Triandis & Suh, 2002). A final limitation is the exclusive use of self-report measures.
The evidence from this investigation adds to the understanding of autonomyconnectedness construct as a culture sensitive personality trait. This investigation also provides a possible link between autonomy-connectedness and acculturative processes such as assimilation and integration.
The concepts of culture and autonomy are similar, for they represent complex phenomena that lack uniformity in their definitions. They also share a common triggerhuman development. In this light, more interdisciplinary research is crucial so that knowledge about these concepts becomes more homogeneous and consensual.
Participants must be aged, equal to or greater than, 18 years. The estimated time duration of the study is about 10 minutes.
Participation is voluntary. The participant has the possibility to deny the participation or withdraw from the study at any time, whenever he/she sees fit.
According to the rules of the Data Protection Commission, the data collected is anonymous.
We emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers for any of the statements. We intend only to get your personal and honest answer.
Participants must be aged, equal to or greater than, 18 years. The estimated time duration of the study is about 10 minutes.
Participation is voluntary. The participant has the possibility to deny the participation or withdraw from the study at any time, whenever he/she sees fit.
According to the rules of the Data Protection Commission, the data collected is anonymous.
We emphasize that there are no right or wrong answers for any of the statements. We intend only to get your personal and honest answer.