Forbearance Across Culture

Abstract

FORBEARANCE ACROSS CULTURE By Yin Lin, M.S., M.A. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2015. Major Director: Everett L. Worthington, Jr., Ph.D. Professor Department of Psychology Forbearance is defined for the purpose of the present dissertation as, “the attempt to suppress the visible signs of negative emotion (i.e., emotional expression) and visible behaviors (i.e., the expression of negative vengeful or avoidant motives) in response to a hurt or offense, often (but not always) for the sake of group harmony.” I reviewed the literature on forbearance and cross-cultural studies in suppression of emotion or emotional expression under the framework of New Big Five personality processes and cultural models of self and relating. Then I offered three propositions about forbearance. Furthermore, I collected three samples and described four studies to develop and test the construct validity of Forbearance Scale as well as the Group-Harmony Forbearance Index. Last but not least, I discussed implications for future research and practice related to forbearance.