Emotion socialization in cross-cultural perspective

Wolfgang Friedlmeier, Feyza Corapci, Pamela M. Cole

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

174 Scopus citations

Abstract

Emotion socialization aims to promote children's emotion competence. Children's competence is embedded in cultural contexts that influence caregivers' expectations of appropriateness of children's expression and experience of emotions. Two aspects of emotion competence - individualistic and relational emotion competence - are outlined. They offer a theoretical framework to interpret cultural commonalities and differences in emotion socialization strategies. This review summarizes current knowledge about caregivers' emotion socialization strategies toward children's negative emotional expressions and related behaviors in cultural perspective. The number of empirical studies in cultures outside of United States remains low. Nonetheless, the available evidence describes a range of emotion socialization strategies that are embedded in caregiving, and their consequences for children's emotion development. Besides several commonalities across cultures, we describe differences in the degree to which strategies are endorsed by caregivers as well as some of the qualitative information that point to cultural variations. Finally, we note gaps in the literature and suggest future research directions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)410-427
Number of pages18
JournalSocial and Personality Psychology Compass
Volume5
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2011

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Social Psychology

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