The Regulation of Induced Depression during a Frustrating Situation: Benefits of Expressive Suppression in Chinese Individuals

Abstract

BackgroundStudies from European-American cultures consistently reported that expressive suppression was associated with worse emotional consequence (e.g. depression) in comparison with acceptance. However, this conclusion may not apply to Chinese, as suppressing emotional displays to maintain relational harmony is culturally valued in East Asian countries. Thus, the present study examined the effects of suppression and acceptance on the depressive mood induced by a frustrating task in a Chinese sample.MethodSixty-four subjects were randomly assigned to one of three instructions: suppression, acceptance or no-regulation during a frustrating arithmetic task. The experience of depressive emotion and skin conductance response (SCR) were recorded during pre-frustration baseline, frustration induction and post-frustration recovery phases, respectively.ResultsCompared with the control and acceptance instructions, suppression instruction was associated with decreased depressive experiences and smaller SCR activity during frustration. There were no significant differences between acceptance and control groups in both subjective depression and SCR activity during frustration. Moreover, the suppression group showed a better emotional recovery after the frustrating task, in comparison with the acceptance and control groups. Correlation analyses verified that SCR reactivity was a reliable index of experienced depression during the frustration.ConclusionsExpressive suppression is effective in reducing depressive experiences and depression-related physiological activity (SCR) when Chinese people are involved. By contrast, the acceptance of depressive emotion in Chinese people does not produce a similar regulation effect. These findings suggest that cultural context should be considered in understanding the emotional consequences of suppression and acceptance strategies.

Psychophysiological Effects of Downregulating Negative Emotions: Insights From a Meta-Analysis of Healthy Adults

“…The moderating effect of trial duration on suppression and skin conductance level was mainly driven by one study (Yuan et al, 2014).…”

The Sex Differences in Regulating Unpleasant Emotion by Expressive Suppression: Extraversion Matters

“…Expressive suppression is a widely used emotion regulation strategy, and this strategy has been proved particularly effective in regulating emotional consequences in East Asian societies ( Butler et al, 2007 ; Yuan et al, 2014a , b ). The suppression of inappropriate emotion-expressive behaviors, especially unpleasant ones, plays an important role in humans’ social adaptation and the maintenance of relational harmony ( Kitayama et al, 2000 ; Mesquita, 2001 ; Murata et al, 2013 ).…”

Psychopathological Symptoms under Smog: The Role of Emotion Regulation

“…Another possible explanation is the cultural differences of emotion regulation. The current study used a Chinese sample and it has been found in previous literature that suppression is adaptive in Chinese culture, as indexed by larger declines in physiological response including skin-conductance and late positive potentials (Yuan et al, 2014a , b ). We are not sure about which of the aforementioned accounts is the correct explanation for smog-induced psychopathology and it seems like an important future direction for research on air pollution and psychopathology as well as effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies.…”