Culture and the Socialization of Emotion: A Systematic Review on Emotion Suppression in Chinese kindergartens

• In Event: Emotion Socialization in China: The Influence of Culture on Beliefs, Emotion, and Behavior

Abstract

Emotion suppression has often been regarded in developmental psychology as a non-desirable, if not maladaptive emotion regulation strategy that is associated with negative psychological and developmental outcomes (Gross & John, 2003; English et al., 2013; Regards & Gross, 1999; Larsen et al., 2012, Gullon et al., 2010). Cross-cultural studies have revealed that such association between emotion suppression and negative psychological outcomes is stronger among American adults than among Chinese adults, who are more skillful in suppressing their emotions (Butler et al., 2007; Nam et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2020; Hu et al., 2014). Although many studies have focused on children’s emotion regulation, emotion suppression is often ignored, leaving it unknown whether its definition varies in different cultures and whether it is an adaptive or maladaptive strategy for children with alternative cultural backgrounds. With most empirical studies adopting the Western definition of emotion suppression and review papers assessing only English publications, it is also unclear whether previous conclusions are accountable for non-English speaking children (Durlak et al., 2011).
To understand the socialization of emotion suppression in Chinese culture, we conducted a systematic review of the conceptualization and assessment of emotion suppression among Chinese children ages 3-6 over the past three decades. We searched for articles published in English on EBSCO, ERIC, JSTOR, MEDLINE, ProQuest Dissertation and Thesis Global, and PsychINFO, as well as publications in Chinese on CKNI, CQVIP and Wanfang Data from January 1995 to August 2022. Empirical studies conducted in school settings directly on normally developing children or indirectly through kindergarten teachers or early childhood educators in China were included. Data was independently extracted by ten research assistants, including seven English-Chinese bilingual speakers and three English speakers.
A total of 5754 articles were extracted from the English and Chinese databases. The screening and coding are on-going and expected to be completed by January of 2023. Each article will be screened and coded by two independent screeners/coders. Any disagreements will be resolved at weekly meetings with the first author. We hope to find answers for our pre-registered research questions below:
1) How is emotion suppression defined and operationalized in Chinese kindergartens?
2) What measures are used to assess emotion suppression in Chinese kindergartens?
3) Is emotion suppression adaptive or maladaptive in Chinese kindergartens?
Qualitative coding will be performed regarding the definition of emotion suppression. The origin and language of measures for emotion suppression will be documented (e.g., Emotion Regulation Questionnaire). The types of outcomes (e.g., academic achievements, psychological wellbeing, etc.) will be documented as well as the effect sizes for emotion suppression in relation to outcomes. Results will be ready for presentation before SRCD 2023.

Group Authors

Fuzhe Xie, Danhua Zhu, Songliang Li, Whitney Sanders, Craig S. Bailey

Authors

• ZHENLAN WANG, Yale University
  Presenting Author

• Danhua Zhu, University of California - Irvine

• Craig S. Bailey, Yale School of Medicine

• Songliang Li, Northeastern Normal University

• Whitney Sanders

• Fuzhe Xie, Yale University