The role of shame within the context of familism in emerging adults

Shame, in contrast to guilt, has typically been seen as a deleterious emotional experience associated with negative psychosocial outcomes across development. Despite this dominant model of shame, a growing body of evidence has highlighted the unique ways that this self-conscious emotion functions in collectivistically-minded cultures and families. This study sought to elucidate how family-based shame operates within the context of one such collectivistic value (familism), with a particular focus on the conditions under which shame may serve an adaptive or prosocial purpose. To answer the question, a person-centered approach was utilized to examine patterns of family-based shame, familism cultural values, and rumination in an ethnically diverse sample of college students (N = 654). Latent profile analysis suggests three patterns in the data, with participants high in family-based shame showing significant associations with higher depressive symptoms, but not lower academic performance, when accompanied by high rumination and familism value endorsement