The Social Science Library » Culture, Ethnicity, and Children’s Facial Expressions: A Study of European American, Mainland Chinese, Chinese American, and Adopted Chinese Girls

Culture, Ethnicity, and Children’s Facial Expressions: A Study of European American, Mainland Chinese, Chinese American, and Adopted Chinese Girls

Author(s)	Camras, L. A.; Bakeman, R.; Chen, Y.; Norris, K.; Cain, T. R.
Abstract	This investigation extends previous research documenting differences in Chinese and European American infants’ facial expressivity. Chinese girls adopted by European American families, nonadopted Mainland Chinese girls, nonadopted Chinese American girls, and nonadopted European American girls responded to emotionally evocative slides and an odor stimulus. European American girls smiled more than Mainland Chinese and Chinese American girls and scored higher than Mainland Chinese girls for disgust-related expressions and overall expressivity. Adopted Chinese girls produced more disgust-related expressions than Mainland Chinese girls. Self-reported maternal strictness, aggravation, positive expressiveness, and cultural identification correlated with children’s facial responses, as did number of siblings and adults in the home. Results suggest that culture and family environment influences facial expressivity, creating differences among children of the same ethnicity.
IssueNo	1
Pages	103-114
Article	Access to Article
Source	Emotion
VolumeNo	6
PubDate	February 2006
ISBN_ISSN	1528-3542

Culture, Ethnicity, and Children’s Facial Expressions: A Study of European American, Mainland Chinese, Chinese American, and Adopted Chinese Girls