TY - JOUR
T1 - Children's emotion regulation across and within nations
T2 - A comparison of Ghanaian, Kenyan, and American youth
AU - Morelen, Diana
AU - Zeman, Janice
AU - Perry-Parrish, Carisa
AU - Anderson, Ellen
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - This research examined national, regional, developmental, and gender differences in children's reported management of anger and sadness. Participants (8-15 years) were 103 Ghanaian children from a village setting, 142 Ghanaian children from a middle-class urban context, 106 Kenyan children from an impoverished urban context, and 170 children from the United States in lower to middle-class urban areas (58.8% Caucasian). Children completed the Children's Anger and Sadness Management Scales (Zeman, Shipman, & Penza-Clyve, 2001) to assess emotion management (i.e., effortful control, over control, under control). Comparisons across nations indicated that Ghanaian youth reported more overt anger expression than youth from Kenya and the United States and less anger inhibition than Kenyan youth. U.S. children reported less overt expression and more constraint over sadness than Kenyan and Ghanaian children, although Kenyans reported being calmer when experiencing sadness than Ghanaian and American youth. Comparing Ghanaian regional contexts, village children reported more anger control than urban children. Regardless of nationality, boys reported more control over sadness than girls who reported more under control of sadness and more over control of anger than boys. Future research is needed to build on these descriptive, preliminary findings examining under-studied cross-national contexts.
AB - This research examined national, regional, developmental, and gender differences in children's reported management of anger and sadness. Participants (8-15 years) were 103 Ghanaian children from a village setting, 142 Ghanaian children from a middle-class urban context, 106 Kenyan children from an impoverished urban context, and 170 children from the United States in lower to middle-class urban areas (58.8% Caucasian). Children completed the Children's Anger and Sadness Management Scales (Zeman, Shipman, & Penza-Clyve, 2001) to assess emotion management (i.e., effortful control, over control, under control). Comparisons across nations indicated that Ghanaian youth reported more overt anger expression than youth from Kenya and the United States and less anger inhibition than Kenyan youth. U.S. children reported less overt expression and more constraint over sadness than Kenyan and Ghanaian children, although Kenyans reported being calmer when experiencing sadness than Ghanaian and American youth. Comparing Ghanaian regional contexts, village children reported more anger control than urban children. Regardless of nationality, boys reported more control over sadness than girls who reported more under control of sadness and more over control of anger than boys. Future research is needed to build on these descriptive, preliminary findings examining under-studied cross-national contexts.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02050.x
DO - 10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02050.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 22882371
AN - SCOPUS:84865009290
SN - 0261-510X
VL - 30
SP - 415
EP - 431
JO - British Journal of Developmental Psychology
JF - British Journal of Developmental Psychology
IS - 3
ER -