Sense of Agency and Control, Self-Esteem, and Psychological Distress Among Undergraduate Students in the U.S. and China

Wenqi Zhang, Peiyi Wang, Chuansheng Chen, Yufei Li, Baojuan Ye, Jianmin Shao, Department of Psychology, University of California Irvine, Department of Psychological Science, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Center of Mental Health Education and Research, School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

Cross-Cultural Research: The Journal of Comparative Social Science

Published online on April 22, 2026

Abstract

Cross-Cultural Research, Ahead of Print.
Beliefs about oneself are closely related to one’s psychological distress, yet little is known about how different dimensions of self-perception interact to predict psychological distress and how these relationships vary across cultural contexts. This ...