Acculturation and anger expression among Iranian migrants in Germany

  • Cultural and biographical influences on the expression of emotions manifest themselves in so-called “display rules.” These rules determine the time, intensity, and situations in which an emotion is expressed. To date, only a small number of empirical studies deal with this transformation of how migrants, who are faced with a new culture, may change their emotional expression. The present, cross-sectional study focuses on changes in anger expression as part of a complex acculturation process among Iranian migrants. To this end, Iranian citizens in Iran (n = 61), German citizens (n = 61), and Iranian migrants in Germany (n = 60) were compared in terms of anger expression behavior and acculturation strategy (assimilation, separation, integration, marginalization) was assessed among the migrants, using the Frankfurt Acculturation Scale (FRACC). A questionnaire developed in a preliminary study was used to measure anger expression via subjective anger experience and anger expression within 16 hypothetical situations. Multivariate Analyses of Variance (MANOVA) revealed that Iranians and Iranian migrants reported higher anger experience ratings than Germans and directed their anger more often inward (anger-in). Further findings suggest that transformation processes may have affected Iranian migrants in terms of suppressed anger (anger-in): Iranian migrants with a higher orientation toward German culture reported lower average anger-in scores. These results suggest that there was different emotional expression among Iranian migrants, depending on their acculturation. The results provide new insight into socio-cultural and individual adjustment processes.

Download full text files

Export metadata

Metadaten
Author:Donya GilanGND, Antonia M. WernerORCiDGND, Omar HahadORCiDGND, Klaus LiebORCiDGND, Emily FrankenbergGND, Stephan BongardORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-620626
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.715152
ISSN:1664-1078
Parent Title (English):Frontiers in psychology
Publisher:Frontiers Research Foundation
Place of publication:Lausanne
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2022/03/17
Date of first Publication:2022/03/17
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/04/29
Tag:acculturation; anger; display rules; emotion regulation; intercultural
Volume:13
Issue:art. 715152
Article Number:715152
Page Number:9
First Page:1
Last Page:9
HeBIS-PPN:521043689
Institutes:Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International