Examining Gender Differences in Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Language

Abstract

Recent studies indicate that the effectiveness of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) varies across genders; women often derive added emotional benefits from regulating through social interactions, whereas men tend to derive little to no added emotional benefits compared to regulating on their own. In this thesis, we examined whether language—specifically the words that people use when regulating their emotions—could explain gender differences in the effectiveness of interpersonal emotion regulation within certain gendered interpersonal contexts. We aimed to answer three exploratory questions: (1) How do female and male linguistic patterns differ in interpersonal emotion regulation when supporting a female or male friend? (2) How do female and male support quality differ in interpersonal emotion regulation when supporting a female or male friend? (3) How do linguistic patterns differentially predict support quality for women and men? We explored these questions through an online study. Participants (N = 493) read a hypothetical scenario of a person venting about a romantic breakup. Participants were then asked to imagine the person as their closest female or male friend and provide an emotional support response. A separate participant pool (N = 162) rated the efficacy of each response, based on three dimensions: warmth, feeling better, and feeling understood. Analyses tested (1) whether linguistic patterns differ systematically as a function of participant gender, target gender, and/or the interaction between these factors (2) whether support quality differs systematically as a function of participant gender, target gender, and/or the interaction between these factors (3) whether the relationship between linguistic patterns and support quality differs as a function of participant gender. By integrating linguistic and emotional measures, this project aims to provide new insights into how gender and language interact to shape the effectiveness of interpersonal emotion regulation. Understanding these dynamics will not only advance our understanding of emotion regulation but also promote more gender-inclusive models of social support.