Abstract
This study explored emotion regulation strategies in middle school European American (N = 54) and Hong Kong Chinese (N = 89) children. Children were presented with scenarios describing a fictitious girl/boy who encountered situations eliciting sadness, anger, and fear. Based on Gross’ theory (1998), the survey of emotion regulation strategies was designed to study children’s perceived effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies including deep breathing, positive distraction, situation avoidance, talking to someone, and experiential suppression. The results revealed that some strategies were universal across the two cultures and some were culture-specific. Both American and Chinese children considered situation avoidance the most effective in dealing with anger. They preferred to talk to somebody more when dealing with anger and sadness than with fear. American children considered deep breathing the most effective for anger; for Chinese children, it was the most effective for dealing with anger and fear. Regardless of emotion-eliciting situations, American children scored higher on positive distraction and talking to someone strategies. This study also investigated children’s explanations of the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies.
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Compliance with Ethical Standards
The authors certify that no funding has been received for the conduct of this study and/or preparation of this manuscript. The authors do not have any interests that might be interpreted as influencing the research. The study was conducted in compliance with the Institutional Research Board at James Madison University. Informed parental consents and child assents were obtained prior to collecting data.
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Appendix
Appendix
Story 1
Johnny/Ann went to a new school and he/she does not have friends. He/she feels very sad and he/she wants to cry. He/she can do different things to deal with his/her feelings. He/she needs your advice about what to do.
Story 2
A peer calls Johnny/Ann names. He/she became very angry. Johnny/Ann can do different things to deal with his/her angry feelings. He/she needs your advice about what to do.
Story 3
One day, Johnny/Ann walked through the park alone and encountered a big dog. The dog jumped and barked at him/her and then ran away. Johnny/Ann is very scared. Johnny/Ann can do different things to deal with his/her feelings. He/she needs your advice about what to do.
Strategies
Deep breathing: Take a deep breath (stories 1, 2, and 3).
Positive distraction: Think about something pleasant, for example, eating ice cream or buying a new toy (stories 1, 2, and 3).
Situation avoidance: Do not go to school the next day (story 1); do not talk/meet with that peer who called him/her names (story 2); do not go to the park (story 3).
Talking to someone: Talk to somebody about how he/she feels (stories 1, 2, and 3).
Experiential suppression: Stop thinking that he/she does not have friends (story 1); stop thinking about the peer who called him/her names (story 2); stop thinking about the scary dog (story 3).
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Wan, K.P., Savina, E. Emotion Regulation Strategies in European American and Hong Kong Chinese Middle School Children. Contemp School Psychol 20, 152–159 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-015-0059-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-015-0059-5