Mothers’ self-reported emotional expression in Mainland Chinese, Chinese American and European American families

This study compared Mainland Chinese, Chinese American and European American mothers’ selfreportedemotional expression within the family. Mothers of 3-year-old European American (n =40), Chinese American (n = 39) and Mainland Chinese (n = 36) children (n = 20 girls per group)completed the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire (SEFQ), a measure that includes 40items describing the expression of positive and negative emotion (20 items each). Respondentsindicate how frequently they engage in each expressive practice. Mothers also completed a questionnaireregarding family ecology variables. European American mothers reported significantly morepositive emotional expression than Mainland Chinese mothers, although no significant differenceswere found for expression of negative emotion. While family ecology differed across groups, thesevariables were not related to the emotional expression scores. No child-gender differences wereobtained. Results of this study confirm the presence of cultural differences in mothers’ emotionalexpressivity