Maternal emotion socialization in Chinese, Indian, and European American families: socialization goals as a culturally embedded factor

Introduction: A growing body of research has documented cultural variations in family emotion socialization (ES) that teach children about their experience and expression of emotions. Theoretical models have been proposed to elucidate the origins of these differences, suggesting that emotion-related socialization goals could be a key culturally embedded factor that shape ES across cultures. Methods: The current study integrated two cross-cultural studies (n = 193, mean age = 3.37 years, range = 1.5-5.96 years) involving four cultural groups-Hong Kong Chinese, Beijing Chinese, Indian, and European American-to address the universal and cultural-specific process involved in the emergence of cultural variations in maternal ES across and within-culture. Results: First, we demonstrated that not only there were cross-cultural differences between European American and Asian mothers, but also similarities and differences in ES practices across Asian groups (Indian vs. Chinese) as well as within Chinese cultures. For example, Chinese mothers reported higher endorsement of training responses than European American mothers, and Beijing Chinese and Indian mothers endorsed higher levels of problem-focused responses. Second, we showed that emotion-related socialization goals served as a culturally embedded factor that contributed to ES practices. Specifically, relational emotion competence goals were linked to more distress responses, minimization, and training, while individualistic emotion competence goals were related to less distress and more emotion-focused responses. However, importantly, multi-group SEM models revealed that these associations were culturally specific. Discussion: The strength and challenges of harmonizing independently conducted cross-cultural studies were discussed.