Emotion Socialization and Ethnicity: An Examination of Practices and Outcomes in African American,Asian American,and Latin American Families

The current review paper summarizes the literature on parental emotionsocialization in ethnically diverse families in the United States. Models ofemotion socialization have been primarily developed using samples of EuropeanAmerican parents and children. As such, current categorizations of “adaptive”and “maladaptive” emotion socialization practices may not be applicable toindividuals from different ethnic backgrounds. The review examines currentmodels of emotion socialization, with particular attention paid to thedemographic breakdown of the studies used to develop these models. Additionally,the review highlights studies examining emotion socialization practices inAfrican American, Asian American, and Latin American families. The review issynthesized with summarizing themes of similarities and differences acrossethnic groups, and implications for culturally sensitive research and practiceare discussed.