Differential Links Between Expressive Suppression and Well-Being Among Chinese and Mexican American College Students

Previous research on culture and emotion regulation has focused primarily on comparing participants from individualistic and collectivistic backgrounds (e.g., European Americans vs. Asians/Asian Americans). However, ethnic groups that are equally individualistic or collectivistic can still vary nota...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Asian American journal of psychology Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 15 - 24
Main Authors:	Su, Jenny C., Lee, Richard M., Park, Irene J. K., Soto, José A., Chang, Janet, Zamboanga, Byron L., Kim, Su Yeong, Ham, Lindsay S., Dezutter, Jessie, Hurley, Eric A., Seol, Kyoung Ok, Brown, Elissa
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Educational Publishing Foundation 01-03-2015
Subjects:	Asians College Students Emotional Regulation Emotionality (Personality) Expressed Emotion Female Human Male Mexican Americans Sociocultural Factors Well Being well-being Mexican Americans expressive suppression culture Chinese Americans
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Summary:	Previous research on culture and emotion regulation has focused primarily on comparing participants from individualistic and collectivistic backgrounds (e.g., European Americans vs. Asians/Asian Americans). However, ethnic groups that are equally individualistic or collectivistic can still vary notably in cultural norms and practices regarding emotion regulation. The present study examined the association between expressive suppression and well-being in two collectivistic ethnic groups (i.e., Chinese Americans and Mexican Americans). Results indicated that suppression of positive emotions was related to lower hedonic and eudaimonic well-being among Mexican Americans but not among Chinese Americans. Moreover, post hoc analysis revealed that Mexican Americans with a stronger collective identity reported lower eudaimonic well-being when suppressing positive emotions than Mexican Americans with a weaker collective identity. Suppression of negative emotions, by contrast, was unrelated to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being for both ethnic groups. Overall, our findings underscore the importance of taking into account the role that culture and the characteristics of emotion (e.g., valence) may play in the link between emotion regulation and well-being.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Jenny C. Su, Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; Richard M. Lee, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota; Irene J. K. Park, Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend; José A. Soto, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University; Janet Chang, Department of Psychology, Trinity College; Byron L. Zamboanga, Department of Psychology, Smith College; Su Yeong Kim, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin; Lindsay S. Ham, Department of Psychology, University of Arkansas; Jessie Dezutter, Department of Psychology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Eric A. Hurley, Departments of Psychology and Africana Studies, Pomona College; Kyoung Ok Seol, Department of Psychology, Ewha Womans University; Elissa Brown, Department of Psychology, St. John’s University.
ISSN:	1948-1985 1948-1993
DOI:	10.1037/a0036116