Emotion Regulation Strategies and Psychological Health Across Cultures

• Published in: The American psychologist Vol. 79; no. 5; pp. 748 - 764
• Main Authors: Tamir, Maya, Ito, Atsuki, Miyamoto, Yuri, Chentsova-Dutton, Yulia, Choi, Jeong Ha, Cieciuch, Jan, Riediger, Michaela, Rauers, Antje, Padun, Maria, Kim, Min Young, Solak, Nevin, Qiu, Jiang, Wang, Xiaoqin, Alvarez-Risco, Aldo, Hanoch, Yaniv, Uchida, Yukiko, Torres, Claudio, Nascimento, Thiago Gomes, Afshar Jahanshahi, Asghar, Singh, Rakesh, Kamble, Shanmukh V., An, Sieun, Dzokoto, Vivian, Anum, Adote, Singh, Babita, Castelnuovo, Gianluca, Pietrabissa, Giada, Huerta-Carvajal, María Isabel, Galindo-Bello, Erika, García Ibarra, Verónica Janneth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Psychological Association 01-07-2024
• Subjects: Acceptance; Adult; Bayesian analysis; Cognitive appraisal; Collectivism; COVID-19; COVID-19 - psychology; Cross Cultural Differences; Cross cultural studies; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cultural differences; Depression - ethnology; Depression - psychology; Distraction; Emotional Regulation; Emotional support; Emotions; Female; Health; Human; Humans; Individualism; Life satisfaction; Loneliness; Major Depression; Male; Mental depression; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Pandemics; Personal Satisfaction; Psychological Needs; Psychological well being; Rumination; Strategies; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Unpleasant; Well Being; Young Adult; emotion regulation; well-being; emotion; depression; culture
• ISSN: 0003-066X; 1935-990X; 1935-990X
• DOI: 10.1037/amp0001237

Emotion regulation is important for psychological health and can be achieved by implementing various strategies. How one regulates emotions is critical for maximizing psychological health. Few studies, however, tested the psychological correlates of different emotion regulation strategies across multiple cultures. In a preregistered cross-cultural study (N = 3,960, 19 countries), conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we assessed associations between the use of seven emotion regulation strategies (situation selection, distraction, rumination, cognitive reappraisal, acceptance, expressive suppression, and emotional support seeking) and four indices of psychological health (life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and loneliness). Model comparisons based on Bayesian information criteria provided support for cultural differences in 36% of associations, with very strong support for differences in 18% of associations. Strategies that were linked to worse psychological health in individualist countries (e.g., rumination, expressive suppression) were unrelated or linked to better psychological health in collectivist countries. Cultural differences in associations with psychological health were most prominent for expressive suppression and rumination and also found for distraction and acceptance. In addition, we found evidence for cultural similarities in 46% of associations between strategies and psychological health, but none of this evidence was very strong. Cultural similarities were most prominent in associations of psychological health with emotional support seeking. These findings highlight the importance of considering the cultural context to understand how individuals from diverse backgrounds manage unpleasant emotions.
Public Significance Statement
This study assessed links between multiple emotion regulation strategies and indices of psychological health in diverse countries around the world as people coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these links were similar across countries, but some were different, such that strategies that were positively related to psychological health in some countries were unrelated or negatively related to psychological health in other countries. These findings highlight the importance of a culturally sensitive approach to emotion regulation and mental health.