Racial and ethnic differences in emotion regulation: A systematic review

Emotion regulation is a transdiagnostic mechanism with relevance to the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of a wide range of clinically relevant outcomes. This study applied systematic review methods to summarize the existing literature examining racial and ethnic differences in emotion regulation.

We systematically searched four electronic databases (PsycINFO, Embase, MEDLINE, and CINAHL Plus) using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

Of the initial 1253 articles, 25 met the inclusion criteria. Findings for emotion regulation strategies generally provide evidence for racial/ethnic differences (71% of reviewed studies), with ethnoracial minorities largely exhibiting greater use of emotion regulation strategies. Whereas the results for emotion regulation potential were slightly more mixed (63% of reviewed studies found racial/ethnic differences), ethnoracial minorities were also largely found to report lower emotion regulation potential.

This review advances the literature by providing additional support for racial and ethnic differences in emotion regulation.