Help-seeking behaviors in later life significantly impact health outcomes and quality of life globally. This study investigates how cultural conformity shapes help-seeking attitudes among middle-aged and older adults in Japan and South Korea. We operationalized conformity as valuing "being ordinary and the same as others." Both nations are rapidly aging societies where social harmony, expressed as wa in Japanese and hwa-hap in Korean, remains paramount.
We surveyed 800 Japanese and 600 Korean participants online (M age = 58.0, range = 40-81). Over half of respondents in both countries agreed with the statement "Being ordinary and the same as others is important," indicating strong conformity values. Multiple regression analyses revealed striking cross-cultural differences. Among Japanese participants, valuing ordinariness was significantly associated with greater reluctance to seek help from both in-group members, such as family and close friends, and out-group members (broader social networks). This suggests that conformity uniformly inhibits help-seeking in Japanese culture. Conversely, Korean participants who valued ordinariness showed reduced reluctance to seek help from in-group members, with no significant association for out-group help-seeking.
These contrasting patterns demonstrate how identical cultural values can produce divergent behavioral outcomes across different social contexts. In Japan, conformity appears to create universal barriers to help-seeking through burden avoidance norms. However, in South Korea, conformity paradoxically facilitates in-group help-seeking, possibly because accepting support from close others aligns with group solidarity expectations.
Mental health professionals and policymakers working with East Asian populations should recognize that promoting help-seeking requires culturally specific approaches. For Japanese older adults, interventions could frame help-seeking as maintaining group harmony. For Korean older adults, leveraging existing in-group support patterns while expanding help-seeking to professional services may prove effective. These insights are particularly relevant for multicultural societies addressing aging population challenges.