Anger suppression, interdependent self-construal, and depression among Asian American and European American college students

The present study tested a theoretical model of emotion regulation (Yap, Sheeber, & Allen, 2007) in a sample of Asian American and European American college students (N = 365). Specifically, the mediating role of anger suppression in the effect of temperament and family processes on depressive symptoms was tested across race and levels of interdependent self-construal (a culturally based self orientation emphasizing connectedness with others). Next, the moderation of the suppression-depression relation was tested by race and interdependent self-construal. Results indicated that the hypothesized model fit well across Asian American and European American students, as well as those with high versus low levels of interdependent self-construal. Anger suppression was a significant mediator of the hypothesized indirect effects on depressive symptoms. Moreover, race and interdependent self-construal moderated the suppression-depression link, such that Asian American status and a stronger interdependent self-construal attenuated the relation between anger suppression and depressive symptoms. Understanding both universal and culture-specific aspects of emotion regulation in the development of depressive symptoms will be essential for sound theory, future research, and effective prevention and intervention efforts across diverse populations.     

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy With Chinese Americans: Research, Theory, and Clinical Practice

In this article, we discuss how to conduct cognitive-behavioral therapy with Chinese Americans. We present an integration of theory, research, and clinical practice to help mental health practitioners understand how Chinese culture may potentially influence the CBT treatment process for Chinese immigrants. Several recommendations are provided as to how to adapt and modify CBT to better meet the therapeutic needs of Chinese American clients. A case example demonstrates how cultural modifications of CBT can lead to effective psychotherapy outcomes for Chinese American clients.     

Going beyond self-esteem to predict life satisfaction: The Chinese case

The present study examined three fundamental components contributing to life satisfaction among Chinese college students − who you are, how you conceive of yourself, and how you understand the world in which you function. To account for life satisfaction beyond self-esteem, we used two comprehensive measures of personality and social beliefs that have recently established their cross-cultural applicability: the Cross-Cultural Personality Assessment Inventory and the Social Axioms Survey. It was found that the personality variables tapping interpersonal relationship and social axioms tapping perceptions of social contexts were significantly related to life satisfaction over and above its relationship to self-esteem. These and other constructs were discussed as emic and possibly pancultural contributors to subjective well-being.     

Standardization of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory: The prototype standardization method and its rationale

Methods and techniques for the standardization of the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI) are reviewed and discussed. Based on the idea of the UT transformation (Tellegen & Ben-Porath, 1992), a general method called prototype standardization is applied to the clinical scales as well as the personality scales of the CPAI. The rationale of the prototype standardization method is explained. Some variations of the basic methodology are suggested and applied to the CPAI. It is demonstrated that the prototype standardization of the CPAI yields desirable psychometric properties such as percentile comparability across scales and preservation of the correlation structures of the scales, even for the personality scales of the CPAI that do not have a homogeneous distributional shape. We conclude that prototype standardization is a useful method for standardizing all kinds of personality inventories consisting of a large number of scales.     

Dissociating the effects of angular disparity and image similarity in mental rotation and object recognition

Performance is often impaired linearly with increasing angular disparity between two objects in tasks that measure mental rotation or object recognition. But increased angular disparity is often accompanied by changes in the similarity between views of an object, confounding the impact of the two factors in these tasks. We examined separately the effects of angular disparity and image similarity on handedness (to test mental rotation) and identity (to test object recognition) judgments with 3-D novel objects. When similarity was approximately equated, an effect of angular disparity was only found for handedness but not identity judgments. With a fixed angular disparity, performance was better for similar than dissimilar image pairs in both tasks, with a larger effect for identity than handedness judgments. Our results suggest that mental rotation involves mental transformation procedures that depend on angular disparity, but that object recognition is predominately dependent on the similarity of image features.     

Testing crossover effects in an actor–partner interdependence model among Chinese dual‐earner couples

The purpose of the present study is to examine the crossover effects from one partner's work–family interface (work–family conflict [WFC] and work–family enrichment [WFE]) to the other partner's four outcomes (psychological strain, life satisfaction, marital satisfaction and job satisfaction) in a sample of Chinese dual‐earner couples. Married couples (N = 361) completed a battery of questionnaires, including the work–family interface scale, the psychological strain scale, the life, marital, as well as job satisfaction scale. Results from the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) analyses showed that wives' WFE was negatively associated with husbands' psychological strain, and positively associated with husbands' life, marital and job satisfaction. Furthermore, husbands' WFC was negatively related to wives' marital satisfaction, whereas husbands' WFE was positively related to wives' marital satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed, and future research directions were provided.     

A preliminary study of an online pain management programme for patients with ankylosing spondylitis

This study was a preliminary attempt to develop and examine an online pain management programme incorporating mindfulness‐informed exercises (i.e. breathing and body scanning exercises) and CBT elements for ankylosing spondylitis patients. Thirty patients diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis participated in a five‐week online pain management programme, which was delivered primarily through a website. The materials covered by the website included breathing and body scanning exercises, mindful walking exercise, positive thinking and management of dysfunctional thinking. Each participant received instructions and reminders from a counselling psychologist through electronic communications each week. They completed the Brief Pain Inventory, Ryff's Psychological Well‐being Scale, Pain Self‐Efficacy Questionnaire, Pain Catastrophizing Scale and Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale‐Revised before and after the treatment programme. In addition, four face‐to‐face focus groups were conducted to yield supplementary qualitative findings. The overall results indicate that this online pain management programme can improve sleep quality and reduce pain interference and catastrophic responses to pain in ankylosing spondylitis patients, albeit being not very effective for mitigating the intensity of pain. Moreover, male and female patients can benefit equally from the online programme. Findings from the focus groups revealed some challenges faced by local patients when practising mindfulness‐informed exercises. Some solutions to those challenges were put forward in accordance with patients’ feedback.