Emotional Distress in Adolescents and Its Association With Emotion Suppression and Cultural Orientation: a Case Study

Chung, Yee Choong, (2019) Emotional Distress in Adolescents and Its Association With Emotion Suppression and Cultural Orientation: a Case Study. PhD thesis, Open University Malaysia (OUM).

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Abstract

Globalization has brought 21 st century education to Malaysia as evidenced by the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025. In order to produce students who are able to compete and achieve globally, students are educated to be analytical, critical, and innovative and to construct their own knowledge. 21 st century education together with technological advancement can prime students to become more individualistic although collectivism with a large power distance still prevails in the general society. The prevailing culture however is an invisible but strong force and the concern is that a mismatch between what is encouraged in the classroom and what is expected outside the classroom will not only prevent successful educational change but will produce a dissonance that can cause distress to students leading to increased mental health risks. Can a mismatch in cultural orientation between the adolescent and society cause an increase in emotional distress among the adolescents? Can emotion suppression which is an emotion regulation strategy that is valued in a collectivistic society be detrimental to our adolescents? This study is quantitative in nature and uses adolescent students as sample to find out whether emotion suppression is linked to an increase in distressing emotions and whether the consequences of emotion suppression is linked to the cultural orientation of the students. Students who mainly use emotion suppression experience significantly more depressive symptoms than students who mainly use cognitive reappraisal and this finding is significant among the collectivistic students. (Abstract by Author)

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