Perceived emotion suppression and culture: Effects on psychological well‐being

Abstract

Whether the negative effects of emotion suppression on psychological well-being are applicable cross-culturally is a long-debated topic. The present study attempted to shed light on this debate, focusing on the effects of perceived emotion suppression and examining the psychological processes leading from perceived emotion suppression to lower psychological well-being. We used a scale manipulation to lead 196 American and 213 Chinese participants to perceive themselves as having suppressed their emotions to a greater or lesser extent and then measured their life satisfaction. As expected, both the American and Chinese participants reported lower life satisfaction in the high-suppression condition than in the low-suppression condition; this negative effect was mediated by positive affect and moderated by self-esteem. Specifically, perceived high emotion suppression decreased positive affect, which in turn led to lower well-being. This effect was observed only for those with low self-esteem, but the patterns and mechanisms were consistent cross-culturally.

Bridging the Gap between Affective Well-Being and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Role of Work Engagement and Collectivist Orientation

“…This suggests that having a collectivist orientation emphasizes the willingness to invest personal resources in terms of work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior. Thus, this study responds to the call of scholars to explore the context and boundary conditions surrounding employee well-being [80,81].…”

Effects of Emotion Suppression on Life Satisfaction in Americans and Chinese

“…To detect an effect size found in related past research (Cohen’s d = 0.40; Kwon & Kim, 2017) with 80% power at the alpha level of .05, 272 American college students (181 women) at a public university in the northeastern United States and 282 Hong Kong Chinese college students (123 women) from a university in Hong Kong were recruited.…”

“…To detect an effect size found in related past research (Cohen's d = 0.40; Kwon & Kim, 2017) with 80% power at the alpha level of .05, 272 American college students (181 women) at a public university in the northeastern United States and 282 Hong Kong Chinese college students (123 women) from a university in Hong Kong were recruited. American participants' ethnicity was varied (White or Caucasian = 44.9%, Black or African American = 6.6%, American Indian = 0.4%, Asian American = 22.1%, Hispanic or Latino American = 10.7%, and Other = 15.5%).…”

Measuring emotional suppression in caregivers of adults with traumatic brain injury.

“…Emotional suppression can be viewed as an emotion-based coping strategy because it is focused on inhibiting the expression of emotion. Studies have demonstrated that emotional suppression is associated with negative physical effects (e.g., increased blood pressure; Gross & Levenson, 1993; Roberts, Levenson, & Gross, 2008), reduced positive affect (Abler et al, 2010; Gross & John, 2003; Kwon & Kim, 2018; Larsen et al, 2012), and lower life satisfaction (Gross & John, 2003; Kwon & Kim, 2018; Sheldon, Ryan, Rawsthorne, & Ilardi, 1997). Emotional suppression is also associated with a reduction in one’s ability to attend to and process social information (Egloff, Schmukle, Burns, & Schwerdtfeger, 2006; Hayes et al, 2010; Moore & Zoellner, 2012; Richards & Gross, 2000).…”