A Comparison of Emotional Expression between Canadian- born and Immigrants Living in Canada S. Safdar, L.C. Gough, R. Raiciu, & J. Rendell University of Guelph, Canada Paper presented at the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology Spetses, Greece, July 10, 2006

Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study was to examine similarity/differences of emotional display rules in samples of adults and students. The study also aimed at examining similarity/differences of emotional display rules in samples of Canadian born and Immigrants.

Hypotheses Hypothesis 1: –No difference between Canadian students and adults in relation to expression of emotions were predicted. Hypothesis 2: –Canadian samples (students and adults) express their emotions (i.e. happiness, surprise, anger, contempt, fear, sadness and disgust) more than the immigrant sample. –Canadians will report that it is more acceptable to express positive emotions more overtly with family, friends, and casual acquaintances than negative emotions.

Sample 1: Canadian-Born Students 124 Canadian-born university students 63(51%)=females 60 (48%)=males Age M=19, SD= % single Religion: 33% Catholic, 35% Christian Economic background: 48% high middle income, 27% middle income

Sample 2: Immigrant Students 104 Immigrant university students 64(62%)=females 40 (38%)=males Age M=20, SD= % married Religion: 27% Christian, 25% Buddhist, 24% Muslim Place of Birth: 15% India, 8% Pakistan, 7% Philippines Native Language: 39% Romanian, Chinese 7% Economic background: 43% middle income, 32% high middle income

Sample 3: Canadian-Born Adults 94 Canadian-born adults 66(70%)=females 28 (30%)=males Age M=50, SD= % married, 13% separated/divorced Religion: 12% Catholic, 60% Christian, 27% none Economic background: 44% middle income, 20% high middle income, 19% low middle income 90% had post secondary education

Instruments Display Rule Assessment Inventory-DRAI (21 questions) –Five possible behavioral responses: Express, Amplify, Deamplify, Neutralize, Mask, & Qualify –Two possible situations: public & private –Seven emotions: fear, sadness, contempt, disgust, happiness, surprise, & anger –Twenty one targets Assessment of intensity and commitment to each of the target person in the DRAI scale (20- item)

Scoring the DRAI Data transformation –Parameters of HOMALS analysis were used: Amplify (.5651), Express (.3842), Qualify (-.1218), Demaplify (-.1545), Mask (-.3828), Neutralize (-.5338)

Target Persons A factor analysis with varimax rotation and eigenvalue resulted in three independent factors for each sample: family, friends, and acquaintances. The structure of these factors were different for each sample.

Canadian Students (51.99%) Canadian Adults (59.87%) Immigrant Students (57.19%) Family father, mother, older/younger brother, older/younger sister, male/female close friends Family father, mother, older/younger brother, older/younger sister, male close friends Family father, mother, older/younger brother, older/younger sister, male/female lower class Friends male/female higher class, male/female same class, male/female professor in 50/30 Friends female close friends, male/female acquaintance, male/ female colleague same level, male/female superior at work Friends male/female close friends, male/female higher class, male/female same class, male/female professor in 50/30 Acquaintances male/female acquaintance, male/ female lower class Acquaintances male/female subordinate at work Acquaintances male/female acquaintance

Target Effect on Expression of Emotion A four-way Analyses of Variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures was conducted, with Category (3) as the between subject factor and Emotion (7), Target (3), and Context (2) as within-subjects variables. A main effect for category was not found –F(2, 304)=2.34, p >.05 Category * Target –Wilks Lambda=.64, F(4, 606)=38.32, p <.001, η2 = 0.20

Category * Target

Testing Hypothesis 1 A significant effect for Emotion –Wilks Lambda=.20, F(6, 299)=195.58, p<.001, η2=.80 A significant effect for Emotion*Category interaction –Wilks Lambda=.74, F(12, 598)=7.97, p<.001, η2=.14

Marginal Means of 7-Emotions

Testing Hypothesis 2 Category * Target * Emotion –Wilks Lambda=.67, F(24, 586)=5.38, p <.001, η2 = 0.18

Marginal Means: Family

Marginal Means: Friends

Marginal Means: Acquaintances

Summary of Findings The composition of family, friends, and acquaintances varies from student to adult samples and from Canadian to immigrant samples. Students expressed their emotions more than adults with family, friends, and acquaintances. Canadian students expressed their emotions with family and acquaintances more than immigrant students.

Summary of Findings In general, positive emotions (happiness & Surprise) are expressed more than negative emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, fear, & sadness). Canadian-born Adults express anger, contempt, & disgust less than Canadian-born Students and Immigrant Students. Canadian students express more happiness and surprise than immigrant students.

Summary of Findings In expressing negative emotions (anger, contempt, disgust, & fear) to friends, Canadian adults were more like Canadian students and both groups significantly different from immigrant students. In expressing negative emotions to acquaintances, Canadian students were more like immigrant students and both group significantly different from Canadian adults.

Conclusion The present findings compare with other studies on cultural differences in emotional expression among students. The study adds an important element in the determining the stability of the previous findings as we have included an adult sample. Future studies need to examine the relation of psychological dimensions of culture that were not examined in the present study.