Cultural Variability in the Manifestation of Expressed Emotion

摘要

We examined the distribution of EE and its indices in a sample of 224 family caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia pooled from 5 studies, three reflecting a contemporary sample of Mexican Americans (MA 2000, N = 126), one of an earlier study of Mexican Americans (MA 1980, N = 44, ), and the other of an earlier study of Anglo Americans (AA, N = 54, ). Chi-square and path analyses revealed no significant differences between the two MA samples in rates of high EE, critical comments, hostility, emotional over-involvement (EOI). Only caregiver warmth differed for the two MA samples; MA 1980 had higher warmth than MA 2000. Significant differences were consistently found between the combined MA samples and the AA sample; AAs had higher rates of high EE, more critical comments, less warmth, less emotional over-involvement, and a high EE profile comprised more of criticism/hostility. We also examined the relationship of proxy measures of acculturation among the MA 2000 sample and found that lower acculturation was related to less criticism. Overall, the findings support the earlier observations of regarding the cultural variability of expressed emotion for Mexican Americans. The only exception is that EOI may be more prominent among these largely immigrant caregivers than previously noted. Implications are discussed regarding the cross-cultural measurement of expressed emotion and the focus of family interventions for those with close family ties.