The Suppression Paradox: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Suppression Frequency, Suppression Ability, and Depression

The ineffective emotion regulation of deaf college students: an ERP study

Introduction

Deaf students have more difficulties with emotion regulation due to their hearing loss. They are suffering higher socio-emotional risk than the hearing person. But there are few studies explored the neural mechanisms of impaired emotion regulation in the deaf college students.

Methods

Thirty hearing college students and 27 deaf college students completed the emotion regulation task while recording ERP data and subjective emotion intensity.

Results

Behavioral results found that deaf college students had higher emotional experience intensity compared to healthy controls. The ERP results showed the deaf college students had lower LPP amplitudes both using reappraisal and suppression strategies. Moreover, the LPP of expression suppression was associated with the increase of depression scores among deaf college students.

Discussion

Deaf college students may have impaired emotion regulation so that they are more accustomed to using expression suppression strategies to regulate their negative emotions which lead to high risk to be depression.

Implicit induction of expressive suppression in regulation of happy crowd emotions

Implicit emotion regulation provides an effective means of controlling emotions triggered by a single face without conscious awareness and effort. Crowd emotion has been proposed to be perceived as more intense than it actually is, but it is still unclear how to regulate it implicitly. In this study, participants viewed sets of faces of varying emotionality (e.g. happy to angry) and estimated the mean emotion of each set after being primed with an expressive suppression goal, a cognitive reappraisal goal, or a neutral goal. Faster discrimination for happy than angry crowds was observed. After induction of the expressive suppression goal instead of the cognitive reappraisal goal, augmented N170 and early posterior negativity (EPN) amplitudes, as well as attenuated late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes, were observed in response to happy crowds compared to the neutral goal. Differential processing of angry crowds was not observed after the induction of both regulatory goals compared to the neutral goal. Our findings thus reveal the happy-superiority effect and that implicit induction of expressive suppression improves happy crowd emotion recognition, promotes selective coding, and successfully downregulates the neural response to happy crowds.

Cultural differences in the relations between expressive flexibility and life satisfaction over time

Background

Expressive flexibility refers to the ability to assess situational demands and adjust one's emotion expressions via enhancement or suppression. It has been associated with lower levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and greater social acceptance. These relationships, however, have not yet been examined across cultures-where prior research has found cultural differences in norms on emotion displays and their associations with mental health. This study examined expressive flexibility across three cultural groups and their associations with life satisfaction and depressive symptoms over time.

Methods

276 first-year college students (146 Asian American, 71 European Americans, and 62 Latinx Americans) completed two online surveys during the first (T1) and thirteenth week (T2) of the Fall 2020 academic semester.

Results

Results revealed no significant cultural group differences in the ability to enhance or suppress emotions. However, we found a significant ethnicity x enhancement ability interaction in predicting T2 life satisfaction, controlling for T1 life satisfaction, age, gender, and emotion regulation frequency. Specifically, greater ability to enhance one's emotions was significantly associated with higher life satisfaction over time among Asian Americans, but not for European Americans and Latinx Americans.

Discussion

Our findings illustrate the importance of not looking just at cultural group differences in the levels of expressive flexibility, but also at the associations between expressive flexibility and mental health.

Greater resting frontal alpha asymmetry associated with higher emotional expressive flexibility

Emotional expressive flexibility (EEF) is an important social ability that has prompted scholars to examine its benefits to human mental health. However, the neural underpinnings of individual differences in the EEF remain unclear. In neuroscience, frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) is regarded as a sensitive indicator of certain emotional modalities and affective styles. To the best of our knowledge, no study has linked FAA with EEF to examine whether FAA could be a potential neural indicator of EEF. In the present study, 47 participants (Mage = 22.38 years, 55.3% women) underwent a resting electroencephalogram and completed the flexible regulation of emotional expression scale (FREE). The results revealed that after controlling for gender, resting FAA scores positively predicted EEF, with relative left frontal activity associated with higher EEF. Additionally, this prediction was reflected in both the enhancement and suppression dimensions of EEF. Furthermore, individuals with relative left frontal activity reported greater enhancement and EEF than individuals with relative right frontal activity. The present study indicated that FAA may be a neural marker of EEF. In the future, more empirical studies are needed to provide causal evidence that the improvement in FAA can enhance EEF.

Age and gender differences in expressive flexibility and the association with depressive symptoms in adolescents

Objective

This study investigated age and gender differences in the ability to flexibly enhance and suppress facial expressions according to situational demands, known as expressive flexibility (EF), as well as its relationship with depressive symptoms in adolescents.

Methods

The participants included 766 Chinese high school students aged between 12 and 18 years (mean age = 14.96 years, standard deviation = 2.04; 52.2% female). Data on EF and depressive symptoms were collected using self-report questionnaires.

Results

Girls scored higher on enhancement abilities than boys, but with no significant gender difference in suppression abilities. There were also no significant age-related differences in enhancement and suppression abilities. Only enhancement ability was negatively associated with depressive symptoms.

Conclusion

The development of EF abilities was stable among adolescents, with varying effects in terms of gender, and the importance of EF and enhancement abilities in reducing depressive symptoms in adolescents was highlighted.

Effortful control and depression in school-age children: The chain mediating role of emotion regulation ability and cognitive reappraisal strategy

BACKGROUND

Depression is one of the main mental health problems facing primary school students. Temperamental effortful control (EC) has received much attention as a protective factor to depression. The present study aimed to verify the association of effortful control and children's depression and explore the mediating roles of emotion regulation ability (ERA) and strategies (ERSs) in the relationship.

METHODS

A total of 449 valid primary school students in grades 3 to 6 were included in the study. Self-report and parent-report questionnaires were used to collect data on key variables, including EC, depression, ERA and ERSs.

RESULTS

Gender and whether-native-or-not had significant effects on children's depression. EC was significantly and negatively correlated with children's depression; EC and depression were significantly correlated with Emotion Regulation dimension of ERA and cognitive reappraisal; but there was no correlation between EC and Lability/Negativity, as well as between expression suppression and depression. EmotionRegulation and cognitive reappraisal played mediating effects in the relationship between EC and depression parallelly and sequentially.

LIMITATIONS

The study used cross-sectional design and the sample was restricted to Chinese primary school students. Additionally, the types and research perspectives of ERSs can be further expanded.

CONCLUSIONS

EC can reduce the level of children's depression by improving the abilities of Emotion Regulation and the use of cognitive reappraisal strategy, as well as the chain mediating effects of the two.

Longitudinal associations between emotion regulation strategies and subjective well-being in migrant and non-migrant adolescents in urban China

This study examined the long-term reciprocal impact of two key emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, on the subjective well-being of migrant and non-migrant adolescents in urban China. A total of 2397 middle school students from urban China (864 migrant, M_age  = 13.05 years, SD = 0.62, 41.7% girls; 1533 non-migrant, M_age  = 13.01 years, SD = 0.47, 50.1% girls) were followed from 2016 to 2017. Data on the two emotion regulation strategies (measured using the Chinese version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire) and subjective well-being (measured using the Subjective Well-Being Inventory) were collected. Although no differences were found in the use of cognitive reappraisal, migrant adolescents reported greater use of expressive suppression than non-migrant adolescents. Furthermore, a two-group cross-lagged panel analysis showed that cognitive reappraisal positively predicted subjective well-being among both migrant and non-migrant adolescents, whereas expressive suppression was positively related to subjective well-being in only migrant adolescents. Migrant adolescents with higher levels of subjective well-being jointly used cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, while non-migrant adolescents were prone to only using cognitive reappraisal. These findings indicate that group-level context influences both the utilisation and functionality of emotion regulation strategies among migrant and non-migrant adolescents in urban China.

Successful emotion regulation via cognitive reappraisal in authentic pride: Behavioral and event-related potential evidence

The present study explored whether authentic pride (AP) and hubristic pride (HP) were differently associated with cognitive reappraisal strategy. In study 1, undergraduates (n = 235) completed a battery of self-report questionnaires, including the Authentic and Hubristic Pride-Proneness Scale (AHPPS), Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and emotion regulation questionnaire (ERP-R). The results showed that AP significantly predicted successful down-regulation of negative emotions via a spontaneous cognitive reappraisal strategy. However, hubristic pride (HP) was negatively associated with spontaneous cognitive reappraisal. In study 2, participants with trait AP (n = 31) and trait HP (n = 29) undergoing continuous electroencephalogram (EEG) recording were required to reinterpret emotional pictures to down-regulate/up-regulate their negative/positive emotional reactions. The results showed that individuals with AP reported lower levels of emotional arousal and lower amplitudes of late positive potentials (LPPs) than did individuals with HP in response to negative pictures during the down-regulation of negative emotions, but not during passive viewing or up-regulation of positive emotions. Across two studies, these findings showed that individuals with AP could utilize the cognitive reappraisal strategy (spontaneously in daily life and under experimental instructions) to down-regulate negative emotions more successfully relative to individuals with HP.

Daily Assessment of Executive Functioning and Expressive Suppression Predict Daily Functioning among Community-Dwelling Older Adults

OBJECTIVE

Executive functioning (EF) is known to be associated with performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). However, prior research has found that the degree to which EF fluctuates was more predictive of self-reported cognitive and IADL lapses than was average EF performance. One source of such EF fluctuations is engagement in an emotion regulation strategy known as expressive suppression (ES). Importantly, ES has also been shown to relate to IADL performance, presumably due to its impact on EF. However, past research is limited due to assessing IADLs only in the laboratory or via self-report. The present study examined (a) the association of daily EF and ES fluctuations with performance of actual IADL tasks in participants' homes, and (b) whether any significant association between ES fluctuations and daily IADLs would be mediated by daily EF variability.

METHOD

Participants were 52 older adults aged 60 to 95. Over the course of 18 days while at home, participants completed daily IADL tasks as well as daily measures of EF and ES via ecological momentary assessment.

RESULTS

Contrary to our hypothesis, average EF across days predicted at-home IADLs above and beyond daily EF variability, which itself was also predictive. ES variability also predicted daily IADLs, and this association was fully mediated by average daily EF.

CONCLUSIONS

Daily fluctuations in ES appear to have a deleterious impact on performance of IADLs at home, likely due to the impact of such fluctuations on EF, although the average level of EF capacity is also important.

Reappraising cognitive reappraisal: The taxing impact of emotion regulation on executive functioning in older adults

OBJECTIVE

Cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES) are two common emotion regulation strategies that share similar cognitive and neural underpinnings. Prior research has consistently shown that recent engagement in ES (both self-reported and experimentally manipulated) is associated with subsequent temporary decrements in executive functioning (EF). Thus far, only one study has examined the association between CR and EF, with null results. However, that study was limited by examining only zero-order correlations and by assessing only the speed, not accuracy, of EF performance. The present study examined multivariate relationships among recent CR, recent ES, and EF (both speed and accuracy), as well as the potential impacts of more chronic engagements in, and trait-level preferences between, the two emotion regulation strategies.

METHOD

Participants were 201 community-dwelling older adults aged 60 to 93 who had participated in three separate studies examining the relationship between self-reported emotion regulation and EF.

RESULTS

Recent CR was associated with EF performance accuracy above and beyond chronic CR. Both recent CR and ES contributed to EF performance accuracy uniquely beyond each other and beyond chronic and preferred emotion regulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Both recent ES and CR appear to have a deleterious impact on EF performance accuracy, potentially due to utilization of similar resources; both should be accounted for when assessing emotion regulation and its impacts on EF.

Six-year changes of posttraumatic stress symptoms and depressive symptoms among Chinese earthquake survivors: A network analysis

BACKGROUND

The risk factors of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (PTSS) and depressive symptoms have been well-established, but whether the network structure of their symptoms changes over time remains unclear. This study aims to examine the six-year changes of network structure of PTSS and depressive symptoms among Wenchuan earthquake adult survivors in China.

METHODS

In this pooled cross-sectional study, respondents were sampled from the same population at each of the five waves (N = 1343, 1205, 1177, 1376, and 1339). The network structure of them was investigated using network analyses.

RESULTS

The study shows network connections stable across waves were the positive connections between hyperarousal and intrusions, hyperarousal and somatic symptoms, and two dimensions of positive effects. Stable negative connections were those between depressed affects and positive effects, avoidance and depressed affects, avoidance with interpersonal symptoms and avoidance with somatic symptoms. Across waves, fearful emotion consistently was the strongest bridge symptom connecting with PTSS symptoms. However, for PTSS the strongest bridge symptom varied across time as it was avoidance in wave 1 but were hyperarousal in other four waves.

LIMITATIONS

This study was based on a pooled cross-sectional survey, which inhibits conclusions regarding causal influences between symptoms at the individual patient level.

CONCLUSIONS

The network structure of PTSS and depressive symptoms was partly stable, yet also varied across survey waves. Core symptom clusters for PTSS and depressive symptoms were avoidance and depressed affect, respectively. The central role of these clusters in PTSS and depressive symptoms has important implications to future psychiatric programs.

Expressive Flexibility and Mental Health: The Mediating Role of Social Support and Gender Differences

Recent research has emphasized the crucial role of expressive flexibility in mental health. This study extended prior studies by further exploring the mediating mechanism and possible gender differences underlying the association between expressive flexibility and mental health indexed by depression and life satisfaction based on the dual-factor model of mental health. Specifically, we explored whether social support mediated the association between expressive flexibility and depression as well as life satisfaction, and whether there were gender differences in these relationships. A total of 711 voluntary college students (mean age = 20.98 years, SD = 2.28; 55.70% women) completed a set of scales assessing expressive flexibility, perceived social support, depression, and life satisfaction. Results showed that expressive flexibility had a positive direct effect on life satisfaction and social support mediated this association. Social support also mediated the relationship between expressive flexibility and depression. The mediation effect of social support was robust and consistent in men and women whereas expressive flexibility had a stronger direct effect on depression in women compared to men. The present study contributes to clarifying the relationship between expressive flexibility and mental health from a more comprehensive perspective. Last, the strengths and limitations of this study were discussed.

Self-Stigma Is Associated with Depression and Anxiety in a Collectivistic Context: The Adaptive Cultural Function of Self-Criticism

Literature on the cultural psychological aspect of mental health suggests that antecedents of mental health in individualistic cultures, or societies that prioritize independence, autonomy, and personal uniqueness do not always apply in collectivistic cultures, or societies that prioritize interdependence, social connection, interpersonal harmony, and norms. The aim of the present study was to determine the mechanisms underlying the impact of self-stigma on depression and anxiety in a collectivistic culture such as the Philippines. Specifically, this study sought to examine: (1) the mediating role of self-criticism on the impact of self-stigma on depression and anxiety, and (2) the moderating role of interdependent self-construal on the impact of self-criticism on depression and anxiety in Filipinos. Surveys measuring self-stigma, self-criticism, interdependent self-construal, depression, and anxiety symptoms were administered to 312 adolescents in rural communities in the Philippines. Using structural equation modeling, findings revealed indirect effects of self-stigma on both depression and anxiety via self-criticism. Findings confirmed that interdependent self-construal attenuate the detrimental impact of self-criticism on depression and anxiety in collectivistic contexts. This study offers novel insights about the underlying mechanisms that operate in the impact of self-stigma on depression and anxiety symptoms among individuals in collectivist contexts. We highlight that self-criticism may have both adaptive and maladaptive functions in collectivist cultures. The study provides implications on the importance of culturally sensitive clinical interventions in preventing depression and anxiety by combating self-stigma and the negative aspect of self-criticism in collectivist cultures. Limitations and future directions are discussed.