Emotional Expressivity, Emotion Regulation, and Mood in College Students: A Cross-Ethnic Study

Differences in emotional expressivity, emotion regulation, and mood among ethnic minorities college students in China were examined. Three questionnaires were administered to 370 college students representing Hui (15%), Uighur (14%), Mongolian (14%), Tibetan (17%) ethnic groups, and Han (40%). Tibetan students were found to have higher levels of negative emotional expressivity in comparison to Han, Uighur, Hui, and Mongolian students. Han students reported a higher level of emotion regulation than students from ethnic groups. Minority students, especially those of Tibetan ethnicity, reported a significantly higher level of negative mood than Han students. Together, these findings suggest that minority students experience more negative emotion and are less likely to adopt emotion regulation strategies than Han students. Among these ethnic groups, Tibetan students both express and experience more negative emotion than their counterparts.