Cultural influences on emotion regulation and affective outcomes among trauma survivors: An ecological momentary assessment study

Little is known about how culture influences the daily use and effectiveness of emotion regulation among trauma survivors. This study used an ecological momentary assessment to examine six emotion regulation strategies and their affective outcomes among European Australian and Chinese Australian trauma survivors. European Australian (n = 46) and Chinese Australian (n = 49) trauma survivors completed baseline measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology and daily measures of emotion regulation and affect (4 times per day for 7 days; 2239 observations). First, Chinese trauma survivors reported more frequent use of all emotion regulation strategies. Second, for the Chinese Australian group only, interpersonal emotion regulation, problem-solving, distraction and reappraisal were associated with daily affect. Finally, regardless of cultural group, PTSD symptomatology predicted greater daily use of suppression and distraction. This study highlights that while the influences of PTSD on daily emotion regulation and associated affect may be generally similar across these cultural groups, there were some nuances suggesting a need for further research in this area. If the findings are robust, intervention approaches need to consider clients' cultural backgrounds given the potential influence of culture on daily emotion regulation use and effectiveness.