Pressman, Lopez and Gallagher (2013) conclude that across the globe negative emotions are bad for one’s health. Yet, just how bad negative emotions are for health depends on culture. In U.S. American contexts, negative feelings are construed as the individual’s responsibility and as harmful. In Japanese contexts, negative feelings are construed as rooted in relationships and as natural. Using six clinically-relevant measures and two representative samples, we tested the hypothesis that negative affect is more strongly associated with poor health in the U.S. (n = 1,741) than in Japan (n = 988). Negative affect more strongly predicted poor health in the U.S. than in Japan for multi-item assessments of physical health (chronic conditions, physical functioning) and mental health (psychological well-being, self-esteem). There were no differences for single-item health assessments (life satisfaction, global health). These findings underscore the need for further theoretically-driven investigations of how cultural construals shape the emotion-health link.

中文翻译：

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负面影响对您的健康有多大影响取决于文化

Pressman、Lopez 和 Gallagher (2013) 得出的结论是，在全球范围内，负面情绪对健康有害。然而，负面情绪对健康的危害程度取决于文化。在美国背景下，负面情绪被解释为个人的责任和有害的。在日本语境中，负面情绪被解释为源于人际关系并且是自然的。使用六项临床相关措施和两个代表性样本，我们检验了美国（n = 1,741）与日本（n = 988）相比，负面影响与健康状况不佳相关性更强的假设。对于身体健康（慢性病、身体机能）和心理健康（心理健康、自尊）的多项目评估，负面影响在美国比日本更能预测健康状况不佳。单项健康评估（生活满意度、全球健康）没有差异。这些发现强调了对文化解释如何塑造情绪-健康联系进行进一步理论驱动研究的必要性。