Model of Social Well-being Based on Horizontal and Vertical Individualism-Collectivism: Intermediary Role of Social Problem-Solving

The present study aims to show to what extent horizontal and vertical individualism and-collectivism tendencies predict social well-being, with the intermediary role of social problem-solving. For this purpose, 377 students from universities located in the capital cities of the western provinces in Iran were selected through the multistage sampling method. The Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism (Triandis, 1998), the Social Well-Being (Keyes, 2004), and the Social Problem-solving Ability (D’Zurilla et al., 2002) questionnaires were applied in this study. The analysis of the data, based on the formation of the causal model in the Smart PLS 3.2.8 software, shows that the general model of the project matches our data. The results of the validity and reliability factors of the external model are optimal. In the internal model, collinearity criteria, the amounts of t, F2, and Q2 are acceptable. Also, the coefficient of determination (R2) of efficient problem-solving (50.3%), inefficient problem-solving (48.3%), and social well-being (68.2%) were obtained at appropriate levels. In addition, the results reveal that horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism predict social well-being through social problem-solving ability both directly and indirectly. But the horizontal collectivism does not significantly affect social problem-solving ability. Moreover, the direct relationship of efficient and inefficient problem-solving on social well-being is all meaningful (P≤.01). Finally, the analysis of the MIPA indicates that the highest performance and importance are related to the horizontal individualism variable (69.250) and efficient problem-solving (.299), which is indicative of the implicit applicability of these results.