Cross-cultural examination of emotional expressivity, beliefs about emotions, and depression of university students

Abstract

This study investigates the cross-cultural differences between emotional expressivity, beliefs about emotions, and depression levels among university students from different continents, namely, Africa and Asia. Participants (n=114; n=88, Africa and n=26, Asia) were English speaking students of European University of Lefke studying at different faculties (Social Sciences, Engineering, Health, and Agriculture). They completed Beliefs about Emotions Scale (BES), Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire (BEQ), and The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-R). Findings suggested that Asian students’ CESD-R sadness and suicidal ideation subscale scores, as well as BEQ positive expressivity scores, have been found higher than the scores of African students. Female students differed with significantly higher scores than males of CESD-R guilt subscale and BEQ impulse strength subscale score. Further, a significant difference between CESD-R scores according to class was obtained as well, junior students had higher scores than senior students. CESD-R total scores indicate that Health Faculty students’ scores are higher than the scores of Engineering Faculty students. As a result, Asian students found to be more prone to sadness than African students.