It is worthwhile to note that Americans scored much lower than Chinese on self-reliance. This finding was consistent with previous studies on individualism-collectivism with college students in the U.S., Hong Kong, and China (Triandis, McCusker, Hui, 1990). Triandis et al. suggested that the higher scores of Chinese students on self-reliance might reflect the pressures of modernization in both China and Hong Kong. Additionally, Triandis et al. (1990) pointed out that self-reliance might have different meanings for individualists and collectivists. For Americans, self-reliance may be linked to individual competition; for Chinese, it may be linked to avoidance of being a burden on the ingroup. Thus, self-reliance may not be a good measure of individualism.

Further, Americans with SCI were more satisfied with their lives than their Chinese counterparts. This finding was consistent with previous research in social psychology that also found a discrepancy in the life satisfaction experienced by American and Chinese college students (Diener & Diener, 1995). However, two culture-related values (separation from ingroups and family integrity) did not appear to have an influence on life satisfaction when other influential variables were controlled. Perhaps these two values were too narrow. They focus on living arrangement within a family (e.g., Aging parents should live at home with their children) and distance from one's ingroups (e.g., Children should not feel honored even if the father were highly praised and given an award by a government official for his contributions and services to the community). They might not represent values that influence people's perceptions of life satisfaction in the two cultures.

Unlike the culture factor, gender was not consistently related to life satisfaction. Although American men with SCI scored higher on life satisfaction than American women with SCI, the difference was not statistically significant. On the other hand, Chinese men with SCI had the lowest life satisfaction mean score compared with Chinese women and American men and women. These findings are consistent with some of previous studies (e.g., Diener & Diener, 1995) but contrary to others (e.g., Campbell, 1981; Krause & Anson, 1997), suggesting the need for further explorations of gender differences in life satisfaction.

In addition, Americans differed from Chinese in the patterns of the correlates of life satisfaction. Significantly correlated with life satisfaction in the American group were four variables: perceived health status, self-efficacy, self-reliance, and marital status were. The correlations mean that individuals who were married and perceived themselves as having good health, high self-efficacy beliefs, and low self-reliance were more satisfied with their lives than those who were not married and perceived themselves as having poor health, low self-efficacy, and high self-reliance beliefs.

On the other hand, in the Chinese group, only self-efficacy and perceived health status significantly related to life satisfaction. Thus, it is not surprising that the model of life satisfaction adopted in this study can explain 50% of the variance in life satisfaction of Americans and only 39% of the variance in life satisfaction of Chinese. In other words, a much larger variance is still unexplained for the life satisfaction of Chinese. This largely unexplained variance suggests that further explorations of correlates of life satisfaction for Chinese are needed.

The finding that Americans with a stronger belief in self-reliance were less satisfied with their lives than those with a weaker belief is difficult to explain. Perhaps, individuals who placed a higher value on their autonomy were more impacted by their physical limitations than those who placed a lower value on autonomy. Another way to look at this issue is that individuals with higher self-reliance beliefs might hesitate to seek support from others which, in turn, would reduce the persons' opportunities to receive social support. The lack of social support would have a negative impact on the individuals' life satisfaction as indicated by Schulz and Decker (1985). Of course, the above statements are speculative and need to be examined in future studies.

It is worthwhile to note that this study found demographic variables to be relatively unimportant correlates of life satisfaction. This finding offers support to Krause and Dawis' (1992) statement that demographic variables might hold little promise for predicting life satisfaction. Also, we failed to find statistically significant differences between people who were employed and those who were unemployed although employed individuals had higher life satisfaction scores.

Implications for Rehabilitation Practitioners

The results of this study have several implications for rehabilitation practitioners in both the U.S. and China. First, the findings of this study signify the importance of self-efficacy beliefs to life satisfaction in Americans and Chinese people with SCI. To assist people with SCI in living a happy and productive life, rehabilitation practitioners should help them enhance their beliefs about their abilities to cope with life's exigencies. This enhancement can be achieved through building successful coping experiences for the client, providing positive reinforcement and accurate feedback, using role models, and providing appropriate counseling to reduce their anxiety level (Strauser, 1995). Bandura (1993) suggests that environments which construe ability as an acquirable skill, de-emphasize competitive social comparisons, and highlight self-comparison of progress and personal accomplishments are well suited for building a sense of efficacy. From this perspective, rehabilitation practitioners should create an Environment which emphasizes the acquirable nature of coping skills and encourages clients' self-comparison of rehabilitation progress.

Second, the results of this study indicate that life satisfaction may be predicted by a subjective interpretation of health. As Diener et al. (1999) pointed out, perceived health status reflected not only one's actual physical condition but also one's emotional adjustment level. Thus, rehabilitation professionals in both the U.S. and China should continue to address not only health-related issues but also negative emotion that influences their clients' life satisfaction.

Third, the findings of this study suggested that Chinese people with SCI in China placed a high value on family integrity. When working with people with SCI, Chinese rehabilitation professionals need to take this issue into consideration. Family members and community should be involved in developing and carrying out rehabilitation plans.

Limitations

There several limitations of the present study. First, the afore-mentioned findings are derived from a purposive convenience sampling process, therefore, the generalizability of the findings is limited.

Second, this study used the LSS developed in the U.S. to assess life satisfaction of Chinese individuals with SCI. Although the constructs measured by the instrument reflect the values that represent three universal requirements of human existence (meeting biological needs, coordinated social interaction, and the survival and welfare needs of groups; Schwartz, 1994), the instruments may not cover the components that are unique to life satisfaction of Chinese people.

Finally, this study did not include social support - an important correlate of life satisfaction. Future investigations should include this variable and explore relationships among social support, self-reliance, and other value variables. Also, the joint contributions of self-efficacy, values, and social support to life satisfaction should be examined.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Joseph P. Healey Grant from University of Massachusetts-Boston. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the position of the agency. The authors would like to thank the staff at the Office of Sponsored Projects at U MB for their support. Also, the authors appreciate the assistance of Drs. Wu Xuanguang and Qiu Zhouying and the local Chapters of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association as well as the contribution of all participants. Nan Zhang Hampton is an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling & School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and Amy Marshall was a graduate student in the Department at the time this study was completed and submitted for publication.

References

Alston, R., McCowan, C., J., & Turner, W. L. (1995). Family functioning as a correlate of Disability adjustment for African Americans. Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, 37(4), 277289.

Arns, P. G., & Linney, J. A. (1993). Work, self, and life satisfaction for persons with severe and persistent mental disorders. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 17(2), 63-79.