Emotion regulation and mental health across cultures: A meta-analysis examining the roles of national cultures, EIRDness, and demographics

Emotion regulation (ER) plays a central role in mental health but the effect differs acrosscultures. Expanding from extant literature’s focus on Western-Eastern dichotomy orindividualism-collectivism, this meta-analysis synthesized evidence on the associations betweenthe two most studied ER strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and twomental health outcomes (psychopathology and positive functioning) and investigated themoderating roles of several cultural dimensions: Hofstede’s national cultures dimensions,Education, Industrialization, Richness, and Democracy (EIRDness), and sample demographics(249 articles, n=151,637, 861 effect sizes, 37 countries/regions). Greater reappraisal propensitywas more adaptive in more short-term oriented, uncertainty-tolerant, and competition-drivencultures and samples with more female and racial minority participants. Greater suppressionpropensity was more maladaptive in indulgent, individualistic, and competition-driven culturesand younger samples. These findings elucidate how cultures shape the function of ER andsuggest ways in which future studies can integrate cultural characteristics when examining ERand psychological adjustment.