Abstract
Emotion regulation (ER) strategies have a clear impact on mental health outcomes. In 2 studies (N = 695, N = 433) we investigated gender differences in the use of 2 ER strategies (reappraisal and suppression) to handle parent-child conflict in Taiwanese adolescents. We also identified the implications of these differences for some negative emotions (self-blame and resentment) and internalizing problems (psychosomatic symptoms and social withdrawal). Results of the correlation analyses in both studies indicated that reappraisal and suppression ER strategies are positively correlated only in male Taiwanese adolescents. Hierarchical regression analyses in the second study confirmed that reappraisal buffers male but not female adolescents against the negative effects of suppression on the arousal of negative affect and internalizing problems.
Highlights
Emotion regulation (ER) is the ability to manage emotional reactions to achieve goal-directed outcomes (Cole et al, 1994)
In Study 2, we sought to replicate the findings from Study 1 via another adolescent sample as well as to broaden it by focusing on the impact of the pattern of use of reappraisal and suppression on the psychological adjustment of each gender
We examined three hypotheses in two studies: (1) whether the relation between reappraisal and suppression in Taiwan is different from previously reported results for North American societies, (2) whether the relation between reappraisal and suppression differs by gender in Taiwan, and (3) whether this difference corresponds to lower scores for affective problems for males than females
Summary
Emotion regulation (ER) is the ability to manage emotional reactions to achieve goal-directed outcomes (Cole et al, 1994). It can be conscious or unconscious, automatic or effortful (Gross and Thompson, 2007). We investigate some gender differences in the use of ER strategies. Adolescence is an important age to investigate because it is a time of transition that encompasses numerous biological, cognitive, and social changes that result in increased negative affect and risk for internalizing symptoms (Arnett, 1999), for girls (Costello et al, 2003). Boys and girls have the same prevalence of most affective disorders, but during adolescence, the gender ratio increases to a two-to-one female-to-male ratio, the same as in the general adult population (Kessler et al, 1994)
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