Meta-Emotion Philosophy Among Asian Indian Immigrant Mothers in the United States

Abstract

We explored the meta-emotion philosophies of Indian immigrant mothers living in the Midwest region of the United States to expand the scarce literature on emotion socialization in diverse families. A total of 15 mothers of teen and preteen children participated in a meta-emotion interview, in which they were asked about their own and their children's experiences of anger, sadness, and fear. We analyzed interview responses through an open-ended phenomenological approach and found the following major themes: familial context of emotions, subtle communication of emotions, and an overarching philosophy centering on inevitability of negative emotions and the importance of moving on. Mothers differed in how well they believed that they could move on. Overall, the present findings demonstrate the role culture plays in emotional experiences of immigrant mothers and serve as a reminder that theories based on European American families might have limited applicability to other cultural and ethnic groups.

Annual review of Asian American Psychology, 2014.

“…These studies covered various developmental periods, including childhood (Xu & Krieg, 2014), adolescence (Gupta, Rogers-Sirin, Okazaki, Ryce, & Sirin, 2014; Jo & Bouffard, 2014), emerging adulthood ( n = 6; e.g., D’Lima, Winsler, & Kitsantas, 2014), and early adulthood (Fishman, Raval, Daga, & Raj, 2014; Tsai et al, 2014). Studies used quantitative-correlational designs, some cross-sectional ( n = 6; e.g., Xu & Krieg, 2014) and some longitudinal ( n = 3; e.g., Jo & Bouffard, 2014); also represented were quantitative-experimental (Tsai et al, 2014) and qualitative designs (i.e., interview; Fishman et al, 2014). Analytical methods included regression ( n = 3; e.g., Xu & Krieg, 2014), analysis of variance ( n = 4; e.g., Kitayama et al, 2014), hierarchical linear modeling (Gupta et al, 2014), growth mixture modeling (Jo & Bouffard, 2014), and structural equation modeling (E.…”

“…J. Kim et al, 2014; Tsai et al, 2014), meta-emotion philosophy (Fishman et al, 2014), self-control (Jo & Bouffard, 2014), academic self-efficacy (Lowinger, He, Lin, & Chang, 2014), extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (D’Lima et al, 2014), perfectionism (Chang, Yu, & Lin, 2014), and multicultural personality (J.-y. Lee & Ciftci, 2014).…”

Annual review of Asian American Psychology, 2013.

“…Personality-We identified 11 articles on personality. These studies covered various developmental periods, including childhood (Xu & Krieg, 2014), adolescence (Gupta, Rogers-Sirin, Okazaki, Ryce, & Sirin, 2014;Jo & Bouffard, 2014), emerging adulthood (n = 6; e.g., D 'Lima, Winsler, & Kitsantas, 2014), and early adulthood (Fishman, Raval, Daga, & Raj, 2014;Tsai et al, 2014). Studies used quantitative-correlational designs, some crosssectional (n = 6; e.g., Xu & Krieg, 2014) and some longitudinal (n = 3; e.g., Jo & Bouffard, 2014); also represented were quantitative-experimental (Tsai et al, 2014) and qualitative designs (i.e., interview; Fishman et al, 2014).…”

“…These studies covered various developmental periods, including childhood (Xu & Krieg, 2014), adolescence (Gupta, Rogers-Sirin, Okazaki, Ryce, & Sirin, 2014;Jo & Bouffard, 2014), emerging adulthood (n = 6; e.g., D 'Lima, Winsler, & Kitsantas, 2014), and early adulthood (Fishman, Raval, Daga, & Raj, 2014;Tsai et al, 2014). Studies used quantitative-correlational designs, some crosssectional (n = 6; e.g., Xu & Krieg, 2014) and some longitudinal (n = 3; e.g., Jo & Bouffard, 2014); also represented were quantitative-experimental (Tsai et al, 2014) and qualitative designs (i.e., interview; Fishman et al, 2014). Analytical methods included regression (n = 3; e.g., Xu & Krieg, 2014), analysis of variance (n = 4; e.g., Kitayama et al, 2014), hierarchical linear modeling (Gupta et al, 2014), growth mixture modeling (Jo & Bouffard, 2014), and structural equation modeling (E. J. Kim, Berger, Kim, & Kim, 2014; J.-y.…”

“…Tsai et al, 2014), meta-emotion philosophy (Fishman et al, 2014), selfcontrol (Jo & Bouffard, 2014), academic self-efficacy (Lowinger, He, Lin, & Chang, 2014), extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (D'Lima et al, 2014), perfectionism (Chang, Yu, & Lin, 2014), and multicultural personality (J.-y. Lee & Ciftci, 2014).…”