Emotion regulation involves changing the emotions that one experiences and expresses. Many
studies have shown that culture influences emotion regulation and that regulating emotions can
have positive or negative effects on relationship quality (English & John, 2013; Impett et al.,
2011; Kalokerinos, Greenaway, & Denson, 2014; Regan, Lakhanpal, Anguiano, 2012; Su, Wei,
& Tsai, 2014; Yelsma & Athappilly, 1988). Although research has studied culture, emotion
regulation, and relationship quality separately, essentially no studies have combined the three
factors to see how they are related. Specifically, there is very little information on whether
emotion regulation plays a similar role in relationship quality across different cultures. The
present study looks at daily associations between emotion regulation strategies (reappraisal,
suppression, avoidance, and taking action) and emotions felt due to the partner, moderated by
marriage type (American, Indian-arranged, Indian-love). I compare 128 heterosexual couples
from the United States and India (in love and arranged marriages). These couples completed
daily diaries once a day for seven days and reported the types of emotion regulation they used, as
well as their positive or negative emotions due to their partner. I found that for Indian love and
arranged couples, taking action was associated with increased positive partner induced emotions and reduced negative emotions. In contrast, taking action for U.S. couples had the opposite effect
and was associated with increased negative emotions due to the partner, with no effect on
positive emotions. In the U.S. couples, I also found that suppression and avoidance were
associated with decreased positive partner induced emotions, but there was no effect for the
Indian couples. With reappraisal, I found that high levels were associated with decreased
negative partner induced emotions for all couples. Overall, results suggest that effective regulation of negative partner induced emotions can protect relationship quality, but that what
constitutes effective regulation depends on cultural context.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/579398 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Choy, May |
| Contributors | Butler, Emily A. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Electronic Thesis |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
Page generated in 0.002 seconds