Comparative Investigation of Adolescents' Generalized Pliance and Psychological Inflexibility across Cultural Contexts
Authors
Stapleton, A., Ruiz, F. J., McHugh, L.
Journal
The Psychological Record
Abstract
Comparative study (n=508) between Irish and Colombian adolescents on generalized pliance and psychological inflexibility using the GPQ-C and inflexibility measures. Found higher pliance in Ireland; gender differences: in Ireland girls showed more pliance and inflexibility; in Colombia girls showed greater inflexibility. Authors discuss implications of cultural context on social rule learning and the need for longitudinal studies.
Detailed Summary
Context and Objectives
Generalized pliance is a pattern of rule-governed behavior characterized by social approval as the main source of reinforcement. Recent research has found that generalized pliance is related to psychological inflexibility. Since generalized pliance and psychological inflexibility are learned through social interaction, there may be differences in these processes across cultures.
Rule-governed behavior is an important verbal repertoire that allows individuals to respond to the world around them. Although following rules offers adaptive advantages (such as responding to abstract consequences and indirectly learning from others' experiences), it can also produce insensitivity to environmental changes not specified in the rule. Pliance refers to rule-following under the control of socially mediated consequences, where the relationship between behavior and reinforcement is arbitrary. In contrast, tracking involves rule-following based on non-arbitrary natural consequences.
Generalized pliance emerges because it is the first type of rule-governed behavior that develops and typically overgeneralizes during childhood, making social approval the main source of reinforcement. Although research shows that generalized pliance decreases with age, if an individual lacks a social community that appropriately contextualizes pliance, it will remain generalized. Psychological inflexibility, a central concept in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), involves the dominance of thoughts and emotions over chosen values and is associated with mental health problems.
Different cultural contexts may vary in the degree to which they rely on social approval as a main source of reinforcement. For example, cross-cultural research has shown that Taiwanese participants exhibit higher others' approval contingencies than American participants. However, to date, no published research has examined rule-governed behavior with respect to cultural context. The objectives of the present study were to: (1) examine whether generalized pliance differs across cultural contexts (Ireland vs Colombia); (2) investigate gender differences in generalized pliance and psychological inflexibility; and (3) examine the relationship between generalized pliance and psychological inflexibility in both contexts.
Method
Participants
The study included a total sample of 508 adolescents aged 12–17 years distributed across two cultural contexts:
- Irish context: 266 adolescents (M = 15.52, SD = .733), with 50% identifying as female and 50% identifying as male.
- Colombian context: 242 adolescents (M = 15.38, SD = .485), with 53.7% identifying as female, 45.9% identifying as male, and .4% not specifying gender.
Design
A cross-sectional comparative study with a between-subjects design examining differences by cultural context and gender.
Procedure
The study was approved by institutional ethics committees in Ireland and Colombia and was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants provided written informed parental/guardian consent and informed assent before inclusion in the study. All participants completed questionnaire measures of generalized pliance and psychological inflexibility on a single occasion.
Instruments
Generalized Pliance Questionnaire-Children (GPQ-C): An 8-item metric of generalized pliance. Items are rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 ("never true") to 5 ("always true"). Higher scores indicate greater generalized pliance. The GPQ-C displayed a good level of internal consistency in the present study (α = .872). The measure has been validated by Salazar et al. (2018, 2019) with adolescents, showing good factor structure and convergent validity.
Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth-short form (AFQ-Y8): An 8-item metric of psychological inflexibility. Items are rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 ("not at all true") to 4 ("very true"). Higher scores indicate greater psychological inflexibility. The AFQ-Y8 displayed an adequate level of internal consistency in the present study (α = .843). The measure has been validated by Greco et al. (2008), demonstrating reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity.
Analysis
Data were analyzed using independent-samples t-tests. Bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) 95% confidence intervals were computed for correlation coefficients based on 1,000 bootstrap samples. One-tailed Pearson product-moment correlations were used to examine the relationship between generalized pliance and psychological inflexibility. There were no missing data on GPQ-C or AFQ-Y8 measures. Total scores were calculated following the scoring procedures specified by the original authors.
Results
Descriptive Statistics
In the Irish context (n = 266):
- GPQ-C total scores: range 8–40 (M = 24.67, SD = 6.389)
- AFQ-Y8 total scores: range 0–32 (M = 12.03, SD = 6.807)
In the Colombian context (n = 242):
- GPQ-C total scores: range 8–38 (M = 17.98, SD = 6.453)
- AFQ-Y8 total scores: range 0–32 (M = 11.98, SD = 7.058)
Cultural and Gender Differences in Generalized Pliance
An independent-samples t-test revealed that generalized pliance was statistically significantly greater among adolescents in the Irish context (M = 24.67) compared to adolescents in the Colombian context (M = 17.98), t(506) = 11.737, p < .001, d = 1.044.
In the Irish context, an independent-samples t-test revealed that generalized pliance was statistically significantly greater among females (M = 26.67) than among males (M = 22.68), t(255.548) = 5.536, p < .001, d = .693.
In the Colombian context, an independent-samples t-test revealed no statistically significant gender differences in generalized pliance, t(239) = .558, p = .577, d = .072.
Cultural and Gender Differences in Psychological Inflexibility
An independent-samples t-test revealed no statistically significant cultural differences in psychological inflexibility, t(506) = .089, p = .929, d = .007.
In the Irish context, an independent-samples t-test revealed that psychological inflexibility was statistically significantly greater among females (M = 13.57) than among males (M = 10.49), t(264) = 3.785, p < .001, d = .466.
In the Colombian context, an independent-samples t-test revealed that psychological inflexibility was statistically significantly greater among females (M = 13.11) than among males (M = 10.69), t(239) = 2.678, p = .008, d = .346.
Relationship between Generalized Pliance and Psychological Inflexibility
A series of one-tailed Pearson product-moment correlations revealed that generalized pliance was statistically significantly positively correlated with psychological inflexibility in the Irish context, r = .535, 95% BCa CI [.440, .618], p < .001; in the Colombian context, r = .574, 95% BCa CI [.487, .664], p < .001; and overall, r = .493, 95% BCa CI [.420, .561], p < .001.
Results Summary
- Generalized pliance was greater in Ireland than in Colombia.
- There were no cultural differences in psychological inflexibility.
- In Ireland, adolescent females reported greater generalized pliance and greater psychological inflexibility than adolescent males.
- In Colombia, while adolescent females reported greater psychological inflexibility than males, no gender difference was observed in generalized pliance.
- Generalized pliance was positively correlated with psychological inflexibility in both contexts.
Discussion and Conclusions
The present study is the first to examine generalized pliance across cultural contexts and to investigate psychological inflexibility and gender differences. The main findings demonstrate significant cultural differences in self-reported rule-governed behavior, particularly in generalized pliance. Adolescents in the Irish context reported greater generalized pliance than those in the Colombian context.
Gender differences were partially consistent with previous research. In the Irish context, females reported greater generalized pliance and greater psychological inflexibility than males. In the Colombian context, females reported greater psychological inflexibility than males, but no gender differences were observed in generalized pliance.
This pattern of absence of gender differences in generalized pliance in the Colombian context partially diverges from Salazar et al. (2018), who found that girls reported greater generalized pliance than boys. The authors suggest this could be because the present study's sample was older, and that the gender difference might correct itself in individuals from the Colombian context during adolescence. Longitudinal research is needed to develop and test this hypothesis.
The existence of cultural differences in generalized pliance suggests that patterns of rule-governed behavior may vary significantly across social contexts. Although the study does not specify the precise reasons for these differences, the authors propose that aspects such as parental discipline, predominance of religion, and political climate would be interesting to explore.
The positive relationship between generalized pliance and psychological inflexibility was confirmed in both contexts, corroborating previous research by Salazar et al. (2019) and Stapleton & McHugh (2020). This suggests that individuals with greater generalized pliance tend to experience greater psychological inflexibility, potentially contributing to mental health problems.
The authors identify several limitations in the study. First, the measures of generalized pliance and psychological inflexibility were self-reported, which may have inflated the observed differences and correlations. Second, although the adult GPQ has been validated against behavioral tasks, the present study did not include a behavioral metric of generalized pliance. Although self-report is theoretically appropriate for pliance, exclusive reliance on psychometrics represents a limitation. Third, measurement invariance was not examined across contexts due to sample size constraints.
Importance and Contribution
This is the first study to examine generalized pliance comparatively across cultural contexts, addressing an important gap in verbal behavior literature. Findings demonstrate that fundamental patterns of rule-governed behavior are not universal but vary significantly between cultures: Irish adolescents reported greater generalized pliance than Colombian adolescents, although no cultural differences emerged in psychological inflexibility. The positive relationship between pliance and psychological inflexibility was confirmed in both contexts, providing cross-cultural support for this theoretical association. Gender differences were partially consistent across cultures: in Ireland both variables were greater in females, while in Colombia only psychological inflexibility was greater in females. These findings have important implications for understanding that central psychological processes vary across sociocultural contexts, suggesting clinical interventions may require cultural sensitivity. The study underscores the need for longitudinal cross-cultural research to understand developmental trajectories of these processes.
This summary was generated using Artificial Intelligence and may contain errors. Please refer to the original article.