Cultural variations in social sharing of emotions - An intercultural perspective

Prior research has established that the "social sharing" of emotions is an integral part of an emotional experience, Whereas earlier studies have focu sed on universal features of sharing (e.g., rate, frequency. delay), this s tudy investigates social and relational aspects of sharing hypothesized to be more open to cultural variation. A total of 555 adolescents from the Ind ian. immigrant Indian, and the English culture recalled episodes of fear, s hame, and sadness, and answered questions related to the sharing of these e xperiences. Results revealed that each of these emotions is associated with sharing patterns that are unique to them. The crosscultural differences in sharing evidenced related to a greater importance and implication of the i ngroup in the emotional lives of adolescents in the Indian and immigrant In dian adolescent group.,,. as compared to the English adolescents.