An individual's aging and human development always occur within a particular cultural context, but given the dominance of Western culture, the environment of non-Western societies is cross-cultural—it includes not only a non-Western dimension, but also Global and Western dimensions. The Western dimension is made up of those characteristics associated with Western societies, which are now found in non-Western societies, for example, Western education, healthcare services, and industrialization. The non-Western dimension, on the other hand, is made up of those attributes that are indigenous to the people, e.g., traditional healing. The Global dimension is characterized by standards that all societies should adhere to, e.g., human rights, equality for women, or by biological changes that are universally shared. Given this situation, six possible interaction patterns between the individual and his environment are mentioned as they have implications for different aging and human development pathways. These cross-cultural environmental dimensions also have implications for immigrants and refugees from non-Western societies in Western cultures and for ethnic minority group members in dominant cultures. This initial proposal may stimulate further detailed development.
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