Self-esteem gates the coupling between cultural estrangement and the default mode network
Morio Aki, Naoya Oishi, Sayaka Yoshimura, Mami Shibata, Nagara Takao, Saki Akahori, Michael Spantios, Toshiya Murai, Hironobu Fujiwara
Scientific Reports August 15, 2026 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-66817-2 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort (cross-sectional) Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 170 |
| Population | Healthy Japanese adults aged 20–70 (70 with complete data for main analysis) |
| Measures | Cultural Estrangement Inventory (CEI), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) |
| Topics | Default mode network |
| Key findings | Self-esteem moderated the association between cultural estrangement and DMN–right lateral parietal resting-state connectivity: at high self-esteem the correlation was positive, at low self-esteem negative; no significant main effects of age, sex, cultural estrangement, or self-esteem alone. |
Abstract
Increasing multiculturalism and globalization have increased the discrepancies between socially-shared norms and personal values. This study examined whether the association between Cultural Estrangement (CE) and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the default mode network (DMN) is moderated by self-esteem (SE). In total, 170 healthy Japanese adults (20–70 years) were recruited, 70 of whom completed the CE Inventory (CEI) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and underwent 7-Tesla resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). DMN seeds were extracted from resting samples ( n = 100) using group-level independent component analysis with 20, 25, and 30 components, followed by CEI × RSES interaction on resting-state FC (rsFC). Across all three DMN masks, a single cluster in right lateral parietal cortex (within the DMN, bordering the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and superior lateral occipital cortex (LOC)) showed a significant interaction after cluster-level false discovery rate correction ( p < .05). Multiple regression analysis revealed that when the RSES was high, CEI correlated positively with DMN–right lateral parietal rsFC, whereas at low RSES, the correlation was negative; age, sex, CEI, and RSES alone were not significant. These findings are consistent with self-esteem moderating the resting-state association between cultural estrangement and DMN–right lateral parietal connectivity: at higher SE the CE–connectivity association is positive (incorporation pattern), at lower SE the association is negative (segregation pattern).
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on default mode network, most cited first.