Department of Psychology, Iowa State University.
Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University.
J Couns Psychol. 2013 Oct;60(4):625-633. doi: 10.1037/a0033413. Epub 2013 Aug 26.
Based on Markus and Kitayama's (1991) theory, this study was conducted to examine whether the association between emotional suppression and interpersonal harmony would be moderated by cultural group (i.e., Chinese and European Americans) and an Asian cultural value (i.e., emotional self-control). A total of 451 college students (205 Chinese and 246 European Americans) participated in this study. As expected, results indicated that the association between emotional suppression and interpersonal harmony was significantly positive for Chinese but not significant for European Americans. Similarly, when emotional self-control was examined as a moderator, the results still confirmed our hypotheses. That is, the association between emotional suppression and interpersonal harmony was significantly positive for those with stronger endorsement of emotional self-control but not for those with weaker endorsement of emotional self-control. Furthermore, we examined whether the above results could be replicated when forbearance (a construct similar to suppression) and distress disclosure (a construct opposite to suppression) were examined. The results showed the same pattern for forbearance and distress disclosure when cultural group or emotional self-control served as the moderator. The convergence of findings increased the robustness of our results. Finally, our data suggest that individuals from Eastern, interdependent cultures (e.g., Chinese) tend to value emotional suppression to preserve interpersonal harmony; individuals from Western, independent cultures may or may not necessarily suppress their emotions for this purpose. A comprehensive understanding of the different meanings of a specific strategy (i.e., emotional suppression) in different cultural contexts is important to promote effective cross-cultural counseling.
基于 Markus 和 Kitayama（1991）的理论，本研究旨在检验情绪抑制与人际和谐之间的关系是否会受到文化群体（即中国和欧美人）和一种亚洲文化价值观（即情绪自控）的调节。共有 451 名大学生（205 名中国人和 246 名欧美人）参与了这项研究。正如预期的那样，结果表明，情绪抑制与人际和谐之间的关系在中国人群中呈显著正相关，但在欧美人中则不显著。同样，当将情绪自控作为调节变量进行检验时，结果仍然证实了我们的假设。也就是说，情绪抑制与人际和谐之间的关系在情绪自控性较强的个体中呈显著正相关，但在情绪自控性较弱的个体中则不显著。此外，我们还检验了当以容忍（与抑制类似的构念）和痛苦表露（与抑制相反的构念）作为调节变量时，上述结果是否可以复制。结果表明，当文化群体或情绪自控性作为调节变量时，容忍和痛苦表露也呈现出相同的模式。研究结果的一致性提高了我们结果的稳健性。最后，我们的数据表明，来自东方、相互依存文化的个体（如中国人）倾向于通过抑制情绪来维护人际和谐；而来自西方、独立文化的个体可能会也可能不会出于这个目的而抑制自己的情绪。在不同的文化背景下，全面理解特定策略（即情绪抑制）的不同含义，对于促进有效的跨文化咨询非常重要。
