Cultural and gender differences in emotion regulation: Relation to depression

Transcription

1 COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013 Vol. 27, No. 5, , Cultural and gender differences in emotion regulation: Relation to depression Hoin Kwon 1, K. Lira Yoon 2, Jutta Joormann 3, and Jung-Hye Kwon 1 1 Department of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea 2 Psychology Department, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA 3 Psychology Department, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA In the last decade, studies have shown that the use of specific emotion regulation strategies contributes to an increased risk for depression. Past research, however, has overlooked potential cultural and gender differences in emotion regulation. The present study examined the relation between the use of emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms among college students in two different cultures (n380 in Seoul, Korea; n384 in Miami, USA). Koreans, compared with American students, reported more frequent use of brooding, whereas Americans reported more anger suppression than Koreans. Women were more likely than men to use both types of rumination (i.e., reflective pondering and brooding) and anger suppression in both countries, but these gender differences disappeared once levels of depressive symptoms were controlled for. In addition, the association between the use of reappraisal and depressive symptoms was significantly stronger in the Korean compared to the US sample. In contrast, the association between anger suppression and depressive symptoms was significantly stronger in the American compared to the Korean sample. These findings highlight the importance of considering the role of culture in emotion regulation. Keywords: Depression; Rumination; Reappraisal; Emotion regulation; Culture. Although there is a growing literature focusing on the role of emotion regulation in emotional well-being (e.g., John & Gross, 2004; Richards & Gross, 2000), there is a paucity of research examining potential between-group variations incorporating race, gender, ethnicity, and culture (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993). That is, most studies on emotion regulation and depression have been conducted in the USA. Every culture, however, differentially encourages and reinforces emotional responding, resulting in differences in the circumstances under which emotional responses are sanctioned (E. A. Butler, Lee, & Gross, 2007; Campos, Campos, & Barrett, 1989). Emotion regulation also serves to channel emotional responses in a way that is appropriate within a particular culture (Saarni, 1984). For example, suppression of expressing negative emotion is likely to be valued as a means of ensuring in-group harmony in East Asian culture Correspondence should be addressed to: Jung-Hye Kwon, Department of Psychology, Korea University, 5, Anam-dong, Sungbuk-Ku, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Junghye@korea.ac.kr This research was supported in part by Korea Research Foundation grant B00051 awarded to HK. # 2013 Taylor & Francis 769

2 KWON ET AL. (E. A. Butler et al., 2007). Not only cultural norms and values affect the way in which emotions are regulated, gender can also shape how emotions are regulated. Previous research has shown that men and women may differ in their use of specific strategies due to biological differences and differential socialisation processes (Kring & Gordon, 1998). However, the joint influence of culture and gender on emotion regulation and their relations to depressive symptoms have not been examined in prior research. The current study addressed two main questions: First, we examined whether the frequency of the use of specific emotion regulation strategies differed depending on culture and gender. Second, we examined gender and cultural differences in the association between the use of emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms. To address these questions, we compared college students from two cultural backgrounds (i.e., the USA and Korea), for which cultural norms and values encompassing emotion regulation differ quite dramatically in that Korea is a collectivistic society while the USA is an individualistic one. Compared to individualistic societies where open emotional expression and attainment of one s personal goals are important sources of wellbeing, in collectivistic cultures, mutual obligations and expectations based on ascribed status are emphasised and therefore harmonious relationships with others are greatly valued (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). Emotion regulation is defined as the processes by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions (Gross, 1998, p. 275). It is difficult to classify a specific regulation strategy as maladaptive or adaptive without considering the context in which the strategy is used (Joormann & D Avanzato, 2010). Previous research, however, has led to a functional differentiation of strategies based on their ability to facilitate adaptive versus maladaptive responding. Habitual use of expressive suppression, for example, has been associated with lower social support, reduced well-being (Gross & John, 2003), and adjustment problems (Sheldon, Ryan, Rawsthorne, & Ilardi, 1997). Similarly, rumination is considered to be maladaptive as it hinders recovery from negative mood and prolongs depressive episodes (Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, & Lyubomirsky, 2008). On the other hand, reappraisal has been associated with positive outcomes, including better social support, better interpersonal functioning, and increased wellbeing (Gross, 1998; Gross & John, 2003). Accordingly, whereas expressive suppression and rumination have been considered maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, reappraisal has been considered an adaptive strategy. Cultural differences in emotion regulation The importance of cultural context in emotion regulation is beginning to be empirically and theoretically established (Cheung & Park, 2010). Culture affects emotion appraisal processes, because culture holds different norms, beliefs, and values that govern our thoughts, and even the perception of the self and the environment (Matsumoto, Kudoh, Scherer, & Wallbott, 1988; Mauro, Sato, & Tucker, 1992; Scherer, 1997). For example, there are cultural differences in emotion-regulation-related processes, such as emotion-antecedent appraisal (Roseman, Dhawan, Rettek, Naidu, & Thapa, 1995; Scherer, 1997) and emotional expressions (Ekman, 1972; Matsumoto & Kupperbusch, 2001). If a specific culture encourages or discourages particular emotion regulation strategies across a broad range of situations, this should be reflected in cultural differences in their frequency of use (E. A. Butler et al., 2007) and in their effects on emotional well-being. Indeed, Americans reported more frequent use of reappraisal than Japanese, whereas the opposite was the case regarding expressive suppression (Matsumoto, 2006). In another study, European Americans showed the least use of suppression as an emotion regulation strategy, while there were no ethnic differences in the use of reappraisal (Gross & John, 2003). In a recent study, Asian Americans reported a greater tendency to ruminate than European Americans (Chang, Tsai, & Sanna, 2010). 770 COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5)

3 CULTURAL AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION REGULATION In addition to the cultural differences in how frequently a specific emotion regulation strategy is used, consequences of the use of each strategy could vary depending on the cultural context. For example, interdependence may be fostered in East Asian cultures where fitting in is not only valued but often required. In contrast, American culture might foster the view of an individual as an independent, self-contained, autonomous entity that is the result of his or her own actions (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Asian values such as interdependence might encourage expressive suppression more often for prosocial reasons, while Western values such as independence might encourage open expressions of emotions and discourage the use of emotion suppression for self-protection (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Oyserman et al., 2002). Consistent with this view, habitual expressive suppression resulted in negative social outcomes for women holding European values, but these associations were attenuated among women holding Asian values (E. A. Butler et al., 2007). The effects of rumination also seem to differ depending on the culture. A recent study (Chang et al., 2010), for example, demonstrated that reflecting on a past failure or negative experience did not invoke as much psychological harm or danger in Asian American as has typically been found for European Americans, despite Asian Americans greater tendency to ruminate. These findings indicate that rumination is a complex construct with both adaptive and maladaptive attributes (e.g., Treynor, Gonzalez, & Nolen- Hoeksema, 2003; Vassilopoulos & Watkins, 2009). Clearly, it is important to examine possible cultural variations in different facets of rumination (e.g., reflective pondering) between Asians and Americans and the relation of the use of these strategies to depressive symptoms. As stated earlier, cultural differences in the frequency of use of reappraisal revealed mixed findings (Gross & John, 2003; Matsumoto, 2006). Furthermore, to our knowledge, no cross-cultural study has investigated cultural differences in the relation between reappraisal and depressive symptoms. Gender differences in emotion regulation Gender differences in depression have been consistently found in Western countries (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2000; Weissman et al., 1993) and in Korea (Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2006). However, gender differences in the use of specific emotion regulation strategies has not been highlighted in previous research except for rumination (McRae, Ochsner, Mauss, Gabrieli, & Gross, 2008; Nolen-Hoeksema & Aldao, 2011). Gender can affect the extent and the way in which emotions are regulated (Aldao & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2011). Gender could also moderate relationships between emotion regulation strategies and depressed mood. Rumination, which has been associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms (Nolen-Hoeksema, Morrow, & Fredrickson, 1993), has been the focus of research in an attempt to explain gender differences in depression. Considering that women ruminate more frequently than men (L. D. Butler & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1994; Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1993), it has been suggested that rumination mediates the association between gender and depressive symptoms (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2000). Furthermore, brooding, the maladaptive aspect of rumination, and not reflective pondering, which is considered an adaptive response to negative events, might account for the gender differences in depression (Treynor et al., 2003). Only limited research has investigated gender differences in the use of other emotion regulation strategies. Men were more likely than women to report using suppression (Gross & John, 2003), but no consistent gender differences have been found for reappraisal (Gross & John, 2003; Gross, Richards, & John, 2006). Also, previous research has not examined whether the relations between these emotion regulation strategies, including rumination, and depression are similar in both men and women. In addition, a question still remains whether the relations between different emotion regulation strategies and depression are consistent across different cultures. In this study, we sought to further investigate both gender- and culture-specific dimensions of emotion regulation and their associations with COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5) 771

4 KWON ET AL. depression. We focused on the use of selected adaptive and maladaptive strategies in different cultures and on the relation of the use of these strategies to individual differences in the experience of depressive symptoms. More specifically, we examined reappraisal, rumination, and expressive suppression, which have been linked to depressive symptoms (e.g., Gross et al., 2006), in Korean and American college students. We also included anger suppression, an emotion regulation strategy that may be used frequently in a collectivistic culture (Cheung & Park, 2010), as a means to promote harmonious relationships. It is not clear yet whether anger suppression is associated with depressive symptoms as it has been relatively understudied. Consistent with previous findings, we expected that Koreans would report higher incidents of suppression (i.e., both expressive suppression and anger suppression) and rumination than Americans. We also hypothesised that the use of rumination and suppression would be more strongly associated with depressive symptoms among Americans than Koreans. Furthermore, we expected that brooding would be more strongly associated with depressed mood in women than in men in both countries. Finally, we did not expect that cultural and gender differences would be related to the use of reappraisal. METHOD Participants A total of 764 undergraduate students participated in the study: 384 Americans (130 males, 254 females) and 380 Koreans (199 males, 181 females). Demographic characteristic of the participants are presented in Table 1. They were recruited from private four-year universities in two major metropolitan areas: Miami in the United States and Seoul in South Korea. All participants voluntarily participated in exchange for course credit. The American sample was ethnically diverse, with 58.4% European American, 22.1% Latino Americans, 7.3% African American, and 7.3% Asian American. The Korean sample was racially Table 1. Summary statistics for demographic variables Variable homogeneous (see Table 1). The mean age of the US participants was years (SD 1.43, range 1728); the mean age of the Korean participants was years (SD 1.94, range 1826). The mean age of the Korean sample was significantly higher than the US sample, t(762) 17.38, pb.001 (Korean men have military duties in their early twenties). In addition, the gender ratio was also different between two groups, x 2 (1, N760) 26.70, pb.001. Procedure Participants were asked to complete several questionnaires, preceded by an informed consent form. In the USA, participants completed a self-paced online survey. In Korea, participants completed a paper-andpencil survey in a classroom. The entire survey took approximately 30 minutes to complete. Measures % US sample (N 384) % Korean sample (N 380) Gender Male Female Participants ethnicities European 59.4 * American Latino 22.1 * American African 7.3 * American Asian American 7.3 * Other 3.1 * Emotion regulation. Participants tendencies to use different emotion regulation strategies were assessed by the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003), the Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS; Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991; Treynor et al., 2003), and the anger expression-in subscale of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI-2; Spielberger, 1999). For measures that have not been 772 COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5)

5 CULTURAL AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION REGULATION translated into Korean (i.e., the ERQ and the RRS), bilingual researchers translated and then back-translated the questionnaires in order to ensure that the final version of the questionnaires included in the survey accurately reflected the intent of the original questionnaires. The ERQ is a commonly used 10-item scale in which participants rate the extent to which they typically try to control their emotional expressions and experiences. It is composed of two subscales, the reappraisal subscale consisting of six items (e.g., I control my emotions by changing the way I think about the situation I m in ) and the suppression subscale consisting of four items (e.g., I keep my emotions to myself ). Both the US and the Korean samples exhibited good internal consistency for the reappraisal subscale, a.85 and a.84, respectively. For the expressive suppression subscale, Cronbach s alphas were acceptable in the US (a.76) and the Korean (a.75) samples. The RRS is a 21-item scale that assesses individuals ruminative tendencies. Following Treynor et al. (2003), we divided the RRS into the brooding (five items) and the reflection (five items) subscales. Cronbach s alphas for reflection were.80 (Korea) and.83 (United States). For the brooding subscale, Cronbach s alphas of.79 (Korea), and.84 (United States) were obtained. Individuals tendency to suppress anger was measured by the anger expression-in subscale of the STAXI-2 (Spielberger, 1999). This scale has been used previously with Korean samples (Chon, Kim, & Yi, 2000). The subscale contains five items assessing the frequency with which individuals suppress their anger. Cronbach s alphas for the two samples were.73 (United States) and.58 (Korea). Depressive symptoms. The severity of depressive symptoms was assessed by the 20-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES- D; Radloff, 1977), which has been used previously with Korean samples (Cho & Kim, 1998). Respondents reported the frequency of symptoms over the past month on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (Never) to 5 (Almost every day). High internal consistency was found in both groups: Coefficient alphas were.90 in the US and.88 in the Korean samples. RESULTS Cross-cultural equivalence of measures When questionnaires are used across multiple cultures, scales should have equivalent meanings in the cultures under consideration. Using AMOS, we performed a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis on each questionnaire to test measurement invariance. The initial set of analyses revealed problems with two items, one from the reflective pondering subscale ( Write down what you are thinking about and analyse it ) and the other from the anger-in subscale. Although the item in question from the reflective pondering scale loaded on the same factor in both samples, the overall model fit was reduced due to large absolute differences in factor loadings. One item ( Tend to harbour grudges that I don t tell anyone about ) from the anger-in subscale did not load on the anger suppression factor in the Korean sample. These results suggest that these items may be understood or experienced differently in the two cultures. Consequently, these items were dropped from the final analyses. 1 Coefficient alphas for the final reflective pondering subscale were.87 in the US sample and.78 in the Korean sample. Coefficient alphas for the final anger-in subscale were.74 in the US and.63 in the Korean samples. We tested the fit of a model that specified the expected factor structure across both countries. As presented in Table 2, for the unconstrained models that only specified equivalent factor structures across the two cultures, the comparative fit index (CFI) and the non-normed fit index 1 The removal of problematic items with poor psychometric properties or cross-cultural equivalence improves the measurement invariance at the expense of comprehensiveness. In effect, problematic but potentially important items could be excluded. We thus re-ran all major analyses including the two problematic items and obtained the same pattern of results. COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5) 773

6 KWON ET AL. Table 2. Confirmatory factor analysis test of measurement equivalence between US and Korean samples Configural invariance between countries Factor loadings invariance between countries Variables x 2 df CFI NNFI RMSEA x 2 df CFI NNFI RMSEA ERQ RRS STAXI-Anger suppression CES-D Notes: For all chi-squares, N764. CFI comparative fit index; NNFI non-normed fit index; RMSEA the root mean square error of approximation; ERQ Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; RRS Ruminative Response Scale; STAXI State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory; CES-D Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. (NNFI) for all the questionnaires were around the conventional criterion of.90. All the values of the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) were less than.08, suggesting adequate fit (Browne & Cudeck, 1993). Therefore, the factor structure specifying unidimensionality of all constructs was equivalent across both countries. When the factor loadings were also constrained to be equivalent, there were no significant decreases in the fit of the models: the RRS: Dx 2 (7, N764) 4.27, ns; the ERQ, Dx 2 (8, N 764) 12.41, ns; and the anger suppression: Dx 2 (3, N764) 7.01, ns. For the CES-D, however, constraining the factor loadings to be equal between the cultures resulted in a significant worsening of the fit, Dx 2 (16, N764) 56.97, pb.001. Although the chi-square difference test is widely used to compare the fit of nested models, it is generally recommended not to exclusively rely on it as it suffers from the same well-known problem as the chi-square test for evaluating overall model fit. That is, with a large sample size, a small discrepancy from the model that may be of no practical or theoretical interest can lead the chi-square test to reject the model (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988; Marsh & Grayson, 1990; Steenkamp & Baumgartner, 1998). Cheung and Rensvold (2002) argued that a difference of larger than.01 in the CFI would indicate a meaningful change in model fit for testing measurement invariance. Therefore, we used both the chisquare difference tests and changes in the CFI values to evaluate the model fit. Using these two approaches, the confirmatory factor analyses indicate measurement equivalence between the two samples. Overall, the structure of each instrument is sufficiently similar in these two samples to warrant the use of these questionnaires. Cultural and gender differences in the levels of depressive symptoms First, we conducted a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Country and Gender as betweengroup factors to examine culture- or gender-related differences in the severity of depressive symptoms. The results are shown in Table 3. Because preliminary correlational analyses revealed a significant correlation between age and the severity of depressive symptoms (r.11, p.002), we controlled for age by including it as a covariate. The main effect of Country was significant with Koreans reporting significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms than Americans, F(1, 760) 61.20, pb.001, g 2 p ¼ :075. The main effect of Gender was also significant, F(1, 760) 13.31, pb.001, g 2 p ¼ :017. These main effects, however, were qualified by a significant Country by Gender interaction, F(1, 760) 5.08, p.024, g 2 p ¼ :007. Follow-up within-group analyses revealed that men and women did not differ significantly in their levels of depressive symptoms in the USA, F(1, 382) 1.05, ns, g 2 p ¼ :003. In Korea, however, women reported significantly more depressive symptoms than men, F(1, 378) 19.13, pb.001, g 2 p ¼ :048. In fact, Korean women reported the highest level of depressive symptoms of the four Country Gender groups. 774 COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5)

7 CULTURAL AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION REGULATION Table 3. Means(and standard deviations) for variables of interest US sample Korean sample Male Female Male Female Variables M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) ERQ-Suppression (4.45) (4.77) (4.59) (5.14) ERQ-Reappraisal (6.44) (6.34) (6.80) (6.72) RRS-Reflective pondering 7.71 (3.38) 7.61 (3.25) 8.89 (2.99) 9.88 (3.08) RRS-Brooding 9.44 (3.76) 9.65 (3.38) (3.77) (3.47) STAXI-Anger suppression (4.58) (3.97) (2.90) (2.72) CES-D (8.48) (8.90) (8.21) (9.22) Notes: ERQ Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; RRS Ruminative Response Scale; STAXI State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory; CES-D Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Does the frequency of the use of emotion regulation strategies differ depending on the culture and gender? Next, we conducted a series of ANOVAs with Country and Gender as between-group factors to examine culture- or gender-related differences in the use of each of the emotion regulation strategies. These analyses revealed that Americans and Koreans did not differ significantly on expressive suppression on the ERQ, F(1, 760) 1. 47, ns, g 2 p ¼ :001. The main effect of gender was significant such that men reported higher levels of habitual expressive suppression than women in both countries, F(1, 760) 34.39, p B.001, g 2 p ¼ :043. For reappraisal, neither the main effect of Country, F(1, 760) 0.62, ns, g 2 p ¼ :001, nor Gender, F(1, 760) 2.22, ns, g 2 p ¼ :003, was significant. For anger suppression, the main effects of Country, F(1, 760) 37.60, pb.001, g 2 p ¼ :046, and Gender, F(1, 760) 5.16, p.004, g 2 p ¼ :011, were significant. Americans reported higher levels of anger suppression than Koreans, and women reported higher levels of anger suppression than men in both countries. For reflective pondering, there was a significant main effect of Country, F(1, 760) 43.02, pb.001, g 2 p ¼ :054, which was qualified by a significant Country by Gender interaction, F(1, 760) 5.25, p.022, g 2 p ¼ :007. In the United States, men and women did not differ significantly in their tendencies to engage in reflective pondering, F(1, 382) 0.01, ns, g 2 p ¼ :000. In contrast, Korean women reported significantly higher levels of reflective pondering than Korean men, F(1, 378) 15.56, pb.001, g 2 p ¼ :026. For brooding, there were significant main effects for Country and Gender, F(1, 760) 79.51, pb.001, g 2 p ¼ :095; F(1, 760) 5.51, p.019, g 2 p ¼ :007, respectively. Koreans reported higher levels of brooding than Americans, and women reported higher levels of brooding than men in both countries. Except for reflective pondering, the interaction between country and gender was not significant for any of the emotion regulation strategies. As described earlier, there were significant cultural and gender differences in the level of depressive symptoms. Therefore, when significant main effects or interactions were found, we conducted analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) using depressive symptoms as a covariate. All aforementioned gender differences in the use of emotion regulation strategies were no longer significant when the covariate was included. Therefore, gender differences in the use of emotion regulation strategies were mostly driven by gender differences in depressive symptoms. Similarly, for reflective pondering, neither the main effect of country nor the interaction between country and gender remained significant. Thus, depressive symptoms seem to underlie: (i) Korean s compared to American s greater tendency to engage in reflective pondering; (ii) Korean COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5) 775

8 KWON ET AL. women s compared to Korean men s greater tendency to engage in reflective pondering; and (iii) women s compared to men s greater tendency to engage in brooding in both countries. In contrast, cultural differences in brooding, F(1, 760) 49.98, pb.01, g 2 p ¼ :92, and anger suppression, F(1, 760) , pb.001, g 2 p ¼ :98, continued to be significant. Does the relation between emotion regulation and depressive symptoms differ depending on the culture and gender? Table 4 presents country-level zero-order correlations between the major study variables. In the Korean sample, all variables were significantly associated with the levels of depressive symptoms in the predicted direction. Similarly, all variables Table 4. Country-level correlations among variables except gender were significantly related to depressive symptoms in the US sample. The correlations between reflective pondering and the CES-D scores, and anger suppression and the CES-D scores were significantly higher for Americans than Koreans (z 2.18, p.03 and z 4.14, pb.001, respectively). Table 5 presents genderlevel zero-order correlations between the major variables. In both men and women, all variables were significantly associated with the levels of depressive symptoms in the predicted direction. The correlations between reflective pondering and the CES-D scores was significantly higher for men than women (z 2.28, p.03). Next, we conducted exploratory analyses to examine whether the relations between use of emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms were moderated by culture and/or Variable Gender a * **.15**.23***.22** 2. ERQ-Suppression.18** *.21***.18**.12*.12*.14** 3. ERQ-Reappraisal.10*.07 *.31*** ** 4. RRS-Reflective pondering.01.14**.15** *.45***.25***.27*** 5. RRS-Brooding.03.23**.01.63*** *.46***.47** 6. STAXI-Anger suppression.04.33***.08.35***.52*** *.36*** 7. CES-D.05.27**.12*.41***.56***.59*** * Notes: Correlations above the diagonal refer to the Korean sample (N380); correlations below the diagonal refer to the US sample (N 384). ERQ Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; RRS Ruminative Response Scale; STAXI State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory; CES-D Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. a The gender variable was coded as follows: 0 male, 1 female. *pb.05; **pb.01; ***pb.001. Table 5. Gender-level correlations among variables Variable Country a * ***.39***.24***.36*** 2. ERQ-Suppression.03 *.10*.13**.17**.24***.23*** 3. ERQ-Reappraisal.01.24*** *.20***.00.11*.22*** 4. RRS-Reflective pondering.18**.24***.21*** *.58**.13**.34*** 5. RRS-Brooding.26***.22***.03.57*** *.32***.56*** 6. STAXI-Anger suppression.34***.28***.02.29***.35*** *.32*** 7. CES-D.23***.21***.12*.47***.56***.38*** * Notes: Correlations above the diagonal refer to the female sample (N435); correlations below the diagonal refer to male sample (N329). ERQ Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; RRS Ruminative Response Scale; STAXI State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory; CES-D Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. a The country variable was coded as follows: 0 Americans, 1 Koreans. *pb.05; **pb.01; ***pb COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5)

9 CULTURAL AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION REGULATION Table 6. Results of explorative regressions of depressive symptoms on variables Variable B b t Age Country Gender ERQ-Suppression ERQ-Reappraisal RRS-Reflective pondering ** RRS-Brooding * STAXI-Anger suppression *** Two-way interaction of country with a Gender ERQ-Suppression ERQ-Reappraisal ** RRS-Reflective pondering RRS-Brooding STAXI-Anger suppression * Two-way interaction of gender with a ERQ-Suppression ERQ-Reappraisal RRS-Reflective pondering RRS-Brooding STAXI-Anger suppression Notes: The country variable was coded as follows: 0 United States, 1 Korea. a All the interaction terms shown in the table were entered simultaneously. ERQ Emotion Regulation Questionnaire; RRS Ruminative Response Scale; STAXI State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory; CES-D Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. *pb.05; **pb.01; ***pb.001. gender. Because few prior studies have focused on cultural differences in the associations between emotion regulation strategies and depression, we did not have specific predictions for moderating effects. Accordingly, we simultaneously entered all the variables into a model: age, country, gender, emotion regulation strategies (expressive suppression, reappraisal, reflective pondering, brooding, anger suppression), the interactions of culture and emotion regulation variables, and the interactions of gender and emotion regulation variables. Following Aiken and West (1991), we computed multiplicative interaction terms after centring each of the variables to avoid issues of multicollinearity. Table 6 summarises the main results of the regression analysis. There were significant Figure 1. Relationship between depressive symptoms and reappraisal (A) and anger suppression (B) among Koreans and Americans. Country Reappraisal interaction, b 0.13, pb.01, f and CountryAnger suppression interaction, b 0.10 p.02, f These results suggest the presence of significant country differences in the associations between reappraisal, anger suppression and depressive symptoms. Interestingly, whereas high levels of reappraisal were associated with less depressive symptoms among Koreans, high levels of anger suppression were associated with more depressive symptoms among Americans (see Figure 1). DISCUSSION Although there is a growing literature demonstrating that the use of specific emotion regulation COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5) 777

10 KWON ET AL. strategies contributes to an increased risk for depression, little is known about the betweengroup variations incorporating culture and gender. The present study examined cultural and gender differences in the use of different emotion regulation strategies (i.e., rumination, expressive suppression, and anger suppression), and the relation between the use of these strategies and depressive symptoms among college students from two countries with different cultural backgrounds. Each emotion regulation strategy was associated with the severity of depressive symptoms in the predicted direction in both countries. That is, rumination (both reflective pondering and brooding) and suppression (expressive suppression and anger suppression) were associated with more depressive symptoms, whereas reappraisal was associated with less depressive symptoms. Importantly, interesting cultural differences emerged regarding the magnitude of the relation between emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms. Cultural and gender differences in the frequency of the use of specific emotion regulation strategies The frequency of the use of reappraisal did not differ between the two countries, which is consistent with previous findings (Soto, Perez, Kim, Lee, & Minnick, 2011). Replicating previous studies (Chang et al., 2010; Maxwell, Sukhodolsky, Chow, & Wong, 2005), Koreans, compared to Americans, reported higher levels of rumination. When we controlled for depressive symptoms, cultural differences remained significant only for the brooding factor of rumination. Thus, brooding is more prevalent among Korean compared to US participants. It is unclear at this point why cultural differences exist only for brooding and not for reflective pondering once the levels of depressive symptoms are taken into account. More studies are needed to clarify cultural differences in specific aspects of rumination. In contrast to our hypotheses, the frequency of the use of expressive suppression did not differ between the two countries. Furthermore, Americans, compared with Koreans, reported a more frequent use of anger suppression, which remained significant even when controlling for depressive symptoms. These findings are somewhat at odds with previous studies demonstrating greater use of expressive suppression and anger suppression among Asians and Asian Americans versus Caucasians (Cheung & Park, 2010; Matsumoto, 2006). It is possible that differences in participant characteristics (e.g., age, college vs. community samples, etc.) might have led to divergent results. For example, participants in the Matsumoto (2006) study were recruited from the community, whereas the participants in the current study were young college students. Young generations in traditionally collectivistic cultures may express their emotions more than older generations as an attempt to free themselves from long-standing restraints of traditional cultural norms. Gender differences in emotion regulation do not seem to be culture-specific. As expected, women ruminate more than men in both cultures. Although men engaged in overall expressive suppression more than women, women suppressed the expression of anger to a greater degree than men in both cultures. However, these gender differences were no longer significant when we controlled for the severity of depressive symptoms. Therefore, gender differences in emotion regulation might reflect the fact that women tend to experience more depressive symptoms (Nolen- Hoeksema, 2011). Cultural and gender differences in the relationship between the use of the strategies and depressive symptoms The association between reflective pondering and depressive symptoms was stronger among Americans than Koreans. These findings are consistent with previous research demonstrating that rumination is less associated with emotional well-being in Asian Americans than European Americans (Chang et al., 2010). Similarly, a tendency to engage in rumination was associated with better problem solving in a Japanese sample 778 COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5)

11 CULTURAL AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN EMOTION REGULATION (Sakamoto, Kambara, & Tanno, 2001). For Americans, their value of independence might strongly motivate self-enhancement processes, which emphasise positive self-esteem. For Koreans, however, interdependence might motivate selfcritical processes, which are associated with selfimprovement rather than self-effacement (Heine et al., 2001). Thus, for Koreans, reflective pondering on the past failure or the negative experience may serve multiple functions (Sanna, Stocker, & Clarke, 2003), some of which may not necessarily be as psychologically harmful as previously believed. In the current study, brooding was associated with depressive symptoms to the same degree in both countries, suggesting that the strength of the relation between brooding and depressive symptoms is more consistent across cultures. A similar pattern of results was observed regarding gender differences. That is, reflective pondering was less associated with depressive symptoms among women (vs. men), whereas both men and women exhibited the same degree of association between depressive symptoms and brooding. These findings thus support the proposition that brooding, in contrast to reflective pondering, is more strongly and consistently associated with depressive symptoms across different cultures and genders. Although the degree of the relation between expressive suppression and depressive symptoms did not differ between cultures, the association between anger suppression and depressive symptoms was stronger among Americans than Koreans. These results partially support previous findings that suppression of emotion was less detrimental among individuals who were members of a highly interdependent culture (E. A. Butler et al., 2007; Cheung & Park, 2010). Anger might be especially threatening to individuals with an interdependent self- construal that prioritises relational harmony (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Therefore, Koreans who can successfully engage in anger suppression might experience less depressive symptoms, leading to a weaker association between anger suppression and depressive symptoms in Korea. As expected, reappraisal was negatively associated with depressive symptoms in both cultures. The protective effect of reappraisal, however, was stronger among Koreans compared to Americans. What might account for this result? Reappraisal might mitigate rumination s negative effects on emotional and physical health (Ray, Wilhelm, & Gross, 2008). When a person does not engage in rumination (e.g., Americans in general in the current study), whether the person engages in cognitive reappraisal or not might have little effect on emotional well-being. On the other hand, if a person routinely ruminates (e.g., Koreans in the current study), engaging in cognitive reappraisal could make a significant difference. Individuals who ruminate and do not reappraise might experience high levels of depressive symptoms, whereas individuals who ruminate but also reappraise might not experience as many depressive symptoms because cognitive reappraisal could counteract the negative effects of rumination. Though admittedly speculative, it is possible that the buffering effects of reappraisal were accentuated among Koreans ironically because they ruminated more than Americans. Obviously, more research is needed to clarify the potential interaction between rumination and reappraisal on depressive symptoms in different cultures. The interpretation and generalisability of the present findings are constrained by a number of limitations. Participants were all college students, which may limit the generalisability of the findings. It is also important to acknowledge that selfreport measures of how much people use certain emotion regulation strategies are not without their limitations (Shiota & Levenson, 2009). In replicating our findings, future studies should consider employing behavioural measures of emotion regulation. Another limitation is that other important variables associated with depression such as stressful events and social support were not examined in the current study to prevent excessive participant burden. Further research including other relevant variables can examine the role of emotion regulation in depression in a more comprehensive way. Because it was difficult to recruit the number of participants we wanted for COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5) 779

12 KWON ET AL. this study all at the same time (e.g., a month within the start of a semester), we recruited participants throughout one semester in both countries. Future studies explicitly assessing the effect of timing of assessment are needed. Given the cross-sectional nature of the current data, we could not examine causality or the direction of effects. Future studies with a longitudinal design are needed. In addition, our definition of a culture is based on countries. However, there is no oneto-one relation between a culture and a country. The United States, for example, includes many different cultures. Future studies should examine the relations between different emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms in other cultural groups based on different delineations. We believe, however, that our findings that the association of reappraisal and anger suppression with depressive symptoms differs depending on cultural contexts shows that culture is as an important factor in understanding the role of emotion regulation in depression. We do acknowledge, however, that the underlying mechanisms remain open to debate. We have obtained strong evidence that the two cultures share similar adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Importantly, the current study has demonstrated that the relation between emotion regulation and depressive symptoms differs depending on culture and gender, contributing to our understanding of the larger context in which emotion regulation plays a role in depression. Understanding both general and culture-specific aspects of emotion regulation in the development and/or the maintenance of depressive symptoms will be helpful for developing more effective intervention methods across diverse populations. Manuscript received 2 April 2012 Revised manuscript received 23 November 2012 Manuscript accepted 28 March 2013 First published online 13 May 2013 REFERENCES Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2011). Gender and age differences in emotion regulation strategies and their relationship. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103, Betancourt, H., & Lopez, S. R. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American Psychology. American Psychologist, 48, doi: / X Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A. Bollen & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp ). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Butler, E. A., Lee, T. L., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Emotion regulation and culture: Are social consequences of emotion suppression culture specific? Emotion, 7, doi: / Butler, L. D., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1994). Gender differences in response to depressed mood in a college sample. Sex Roles, 30, doi: / BF Campos, J. J., Campos, R. G., & Barrett, K. C. (1989). Emergent themes in the study of emotional development and emotion regulation. Developmental Psychology, 25, doi: / Chang, E. C., Tsai, W., & Sanna, L. J. (2010). Examining the relations between rumination and adjustment: Do ethnic differences exist between Asian and European Americans? Asian American Journal of Psychology, 1, doi: / a Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, doi: /s sem0902_5 Cheung, R. Y. M., & Park, I. J. K. (2010). Anger suppression, cultural orientation, and depression among Asian American and European American college students. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16, doi: / a COGNITION AND EMOTION, 2013, 27 (5)

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