Ethnic Variation in the Impact of Emotion and Emotion Regulation on Health: A Replication and Extension

Abstract

Although emotions and patterns of emotion regulation are central to models linking personality and health, the generalizability of these models to diverse populations of older adults remains untested. In this study, 1,364 community-dwelling women (aged 50-70 years) from six ethnic groups completed self-report measures of trait anger, inhibition, defensiveness, and health. As expected, reports of trait anger and emotion inhibition predicted poorer health (and defensiveness better health), even when demographics and health behaviors were controlled. However, these characteristics related to outcome differently across ethnic groups; greater anger was related to better health in all groups other than U.S-born European Americans, and increased emotion inhibition was associated with better health among immigrant Eastern European women. Results are discussed within a contextualistic model of emotions and health, and directions for future research are given.

Late Life Attachment in Context: Patterns of Relating Among Men and Women from Seven Ethnic Groups

“…African Americans Because it is thought that the encouragement of expressive control through physical means in African American homes (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al 2004;DeaterDeckard et al 1996) and issues of racism and prejudice (Magai et al 2001) promote dismissive attachment in African Americans, we predicted that this group would report higher levels of dismissiveness than European Americans (Consedine et al 2005;Montague et al 2003). Research generally supports this hypothesis.…”

“…For instance, multiple caregivers and the encouragement of expressive control through physical means in African American homes (Bakermans-Kranenburg et al 2004;Consedine et al 2005;Deater-Deckard et al 1996;Montague et al 2003) is thought to lead to the higher levels of dismissive attachment seen in this group compared to European Americans. The line of research that views attachment styles as closely associated with affect regulation strategies in both adolescents (Kobak, Cole et al 1993;Kobak & Sceery 1988) and adults Kafetsios & Sideridis 2006) also offers some insight into how ethnic groups may vary in attachment.…”

“…First, Haitians are highly defensive (Consedine et al 2005) and repress negative emotions (Consedine, Magai, & Neugut 2004), suggestive of dismissiveness (Hazan & Shaver 1987;Mikulincer 1998aMikulincer , 1998b. Second, Haitians have strong beliefs in the supernatural, resulting in superstition and mistrust of others combined with a strong personal sense of control (Desrosiers & Fleurose 2002).…”

“…From an historical perspective, feelings of mistrust stemming from experiences under Communism or the historical importance of self-reliance and independence suggest that Eastern Europeans may report high levels of dismissiveness. At the same time, the complex mixture of overprotection/ infantilization and expectations of independence from parents in childhood (Hulewat 1981;Leipzig 2006), along with the value placed on expressivity and emotional transparency Consedine et al 2005;Wierzbicka 1998Wierzbicka , 1999, suggest that preoccupation may also be high among individuals of Eastern European descent. Thus, we predicted high levels of both dismissiveness and preoccupation in this group.…”

“…In addition, like Haitians, English-speaking Caribbeans tend to be more defensive (Consedine et al 2005) and repressive than European Americans; in fact, black Caribbean families (who tend to be very closely-knit) often share a tacit agreement to not reveal feelings (Brice 1992).…”