African American College Students' Contextual Emotion Expression

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• African American Studies

Background:

• Understanding emotion expression among African American college students is crucial for their well-being.
• Existing research often overlooks the contextual nuances of emotional expression within this demographic.
• Theoretical frameworks like Triple Quandary Theory provide insight into navigating racial and emotional complexities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate patterns of self-reported emotion expression in familial and college campus settings among African American college students.
• To examine the association between these emotion expression patterns and campus contextual factors, including racial demographics and experiences of discrimination.
• To identify distinct profiles of emotion expression and their predictors within this population.

Main Methods:

• Online survey data collected from 169 African American college students across three campuses.
• Latent profile analysis (LPA) used to identify emotion expression profiles in familial and campus contexts.
• Statistical analysis to determine predictors of profile membership, including campus racial demographics, friend group composition, and racial discrimination experiences.

Main Results:

• Four distinct emotion expression profiles were identified: Positive Low Expressors, High Family - Low Campus Expressors, Consistent Expressors, and Low Family Positive - Consistent Negative Expressors.
• Campus type was not a significant predictor of profile membership.
• Experiences of racial discrimination and the racial composition of friend groups significantly predicted profile membership.

Conclusions:

• Emotion expression patterns among African American college students vary significantly between familial and campus contexts.
• These variations are linked to students' racial experiences on campus, particularly racial discrimination and social integration within friend groups.
• Colleges must acknowledge and address how campus environments shape the emotional functioning and competence of African American students.