Cultural moderation of emotion regulation strategies: childhood maltreatment and suicidal ideation in Chinese female students

Introduction This study examines the complex interplay between childhood maltreatment and suicidal ideation among Chinese female college students within China’s collectivistic context, examining affective balance as a mediator and expressive suppression as a culturally contingent moderator. Methods A cross-sectional design was employed with 2,280 female undergraduates from 11 universities across eight Chinese provinces. Participants completed validated measures, including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation, Bradburn Affect Balance Scale, and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. The data were analyzed by conducting moderated mediation analysis with bootstrapping procedures to test the hypothesized pathways. Results Affective balance significantly mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and suicidal ideation (indirect effect = 0.12, 95% CI [0.08, 0.16]). Expressive suppression moderated this mediation pathway, with higher levels of suppression attenuating the adverse effects of childhood maltreatment on affective balance (interaction effect = −0.09, p < 0.01). The protective buffering effect was particularly pronounced at moderate to low levels of childhood trauma. Discussion Consistent with prior cross-cultural psychology research, the present findings substantiate the adaptive role of expressive suppression in China’s collectivistic cultural context. Rather than challenging Western emotion regulation models, this study extends the existing evidence by demonstrating context-specific patterns of emotion regulation among Chinese participants. These results underscore the importance of incorporating cultural variability into models of emotion regulation and suggest that culturally informed approaches are essential for understanding emotional adjustment and mental health across societies.