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Acculturation matters in the relation between ambivalence over emotional expressions and well-being among Chinese American breast cancer survivors

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Abstract

Purpose

Ambivalence over emotional expression (AEE) is the inner conflict of desiring emotion expression and fearing consequence of emotion expression. Few studies to date have examined the effects of AEE within an ethnic group that prioritizes emotional self-control. The present study examined the associations between AEE and well-being (viz., quality of life and depressive symptoms) as a function of acculturation among a sample of Chinese American breast cancer survivors.

Methods

Ninety-six Chinese breast cancer survivors (M age = 54.64 years old, SD = 7.98) were recruited from Southern California. Participants filled out a paper-pen questionnaire containing the Ambivalence over Emotional Expression Questionnaire (AEQ), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B), and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale—Short Form (CESD-10).

Results

Acculturation was a statistically significant moderator of the relations between AEE and depressive symptoms, and a statistically marginally significant moderator of the relations between AEE and quality of life. Simple slopes revealed that AEE was negatively associated with quality of life (B = −.45, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (B = .20, p < .001) for women with high acculturation, but not associated for women with low acculturation (Bs = −.15 and .04, ps > .05, for quality of life and depressive symptoms, respectively).

Conclusions

These results suggest that less acculturated Chinese breast cancer survivors are protected by Chinese cultural values of emotional self-control and restraint, and thus do not experience the detrimental effects of AEE on their depressive symptoms and quality of life. Implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. Although some participants were born in Vietnam or Japan, they self-identified as ethnically Chinese.

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Funding

The present study is funded by the American Cancer Society MRSGT-10-011-01-CPPB (PI: Qian Lu).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, California State University, San Marcos, USA

    William Tsai

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 126 Heyne Building, Houston, TX, 77204, USA

    Qian Lu

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  1. William Tsai
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  2. Qian Lu
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Correspondence to William Tsai or Qian Lu.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Tsai, W., Lu, Q. Acculturation matters in the relation between ambivalence over emotional expressions and well-being among Chinese American breast cancer survivors. Qual Life Res 26, 2755–2762 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-017-1618-1

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