Family emotion expressivity, emotion regulation, and the link to psychopathology: Examination across race

Abstract

Research has established links between parental emotion socialization behaviours and youth emotional and psychological outcomes; however, no study has simultaneously compared these relations for White, Black, and Asian individuals. In this study, emerging adults identifying as White (n= 61), Black (n= 51), or Asian (n= 56) retrospectively reported on parents' emotion socialization behaviours during childhood, existing emotion regulation (ER) skills, and current psychopathology symptoms. Asian participants reported fewer positive displays of emotions in their families during childhood than White and Black participants. Despite this difference, low expression of positive emotions in families during childhood did not relate to negative outcomes for Asian participants but was linked for White and Black participants. Overall, Asian participants reported more difficulties with ER than Black or White participants, and relations between ER difficulties and psychopathology varied by racial group. The findings emphasize the need to consider race when conducting research on emotion functioning with families and highlight emotion dysregulation as a potential treatment target for White, Black, and Asian individuals.

Guilt and Shame: Explaining Associations Between Emotion Socialization and Emerging Adult Well‐Being

“…The predominantly female sample is a limitation; however, given the statistically significant findings, it is unlikely that this sample limitation affected our ability to detect moderating effects by youth gender. It is unclear whether the same associations and pathways would be replicated in a more racially or culturally diverse group (e.g., Morelen, Jacob, Suveg, Jones, & Thomassin, 2013). Future studies could also explore the potential impact of socioeconomic status or other risk factors (for examples of such work, see Fainsilber Katz et al, 2016, andZeman, Dallaire, &Borowski, 2016); diversity in family composition (for a study of ES in single mother headed households, see McKee et al, 2015); and other socializing agents such as siblings, peers, and educators (see, e.g., Klimes-Dougan et al, 2014) on ES processes.…”

Maternal socialization of children’s positive affect regulation: Associations with children’s savoring, dampening, and depressive symptoms

“…Furthermore, the links between PA and depression should be interpreted in light of our predominantly European American sample. Prior research shows experiencing PA varies by culture (Leu, Wang, & Koo, 2011), as do the links between PA and adjustment (Morelen, Jacob, Suveg, Jones, & Thomassin, 2013).…”

Chinese American immigrant parents’ emotional expression in the family: Relations with parents’ cultural orientations and children’s emotion-related regulation.

“…Third, the links between parents' emotional expression and children's regulation have yet to be tested in Asian American families, and researchers have yet to include both self-reported and observed components of parental emotion expression in these investigations. A cross-cultural study showed that college students' ratings of positive parental emotion were associated with fewer emotion-regulation difficulties (Morelen, Jacob, Suveg, Jones, & Thomassin, 2013), but these associations were only found among White students. Furthermore, although previous research with European American samples showed a modest agreement between observed and self-reported measures of parent emotion (Eisenberg, Gershoff, et al, 2001), based on the theoretical models reviewed here, there is reason to suspect that these findings might not generalize to Asian American families.…”