Abstract

The present study compared 6- to 9-year-old children's reports of their decisions to express anger, sadness, and physical pain; methods of controlling and communicating felt emotion; and reasons for doing so in response to hypothetical situations across three groups: old-city India (n = 60), suburban India (n = 60), and suburban United States (n = 60). Both groups of Indian children were less likely to report expressing their anger, sadness, and pain than U.S. children, and were less likely to report direct verbal expression than U.S. children. Indian children reported a desire to maintain social norms as a reason to control anger and sadness more than U.S. children, whereas U.S. children reported a desire to communicate felt emotion as a reason to express all three feelings more than Indian children.

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