Cultural Differences in the Self-Reported Experience and Expression of Emotions in Relationships

Abstract

This study investigated cultural differences in emotion experience and expression in romantic relationships. It was hypothesized that Japanese Americans would report experiencing and expressing emotion to a lesser degree than Filipino Americans, and Filipino Americans would report experiencing and expressing emotion less intensely than Euro Americans. It was also hypothesized that the perceived appropriateness of the expression of emotion would be lowest for Japanese Americans, followed by Filipino Americans, and Filipino Americans would perceive lower appropriateness of emotion expression than Euro Americans. A total of 134 respondents completed a self-report instrument, which assessed a positive and negative emotion instance experienced in their romantic relationship. Negative and positive emotion instances were analyzed separately and only positive emotions were found to vary as a set across culture. Results showed that Filipino Americans rated emotion experience intensity, expression intensity, and appropriateness higher than Japanese Americans; however, contrary to expectations, Euro Americans' means were as low as, or lower, than those of the Japanese Americans respondents on all three dependent measures.