US and Japanese adolescents’ emotions across time: variation by valence and arousal

Experiencing emotions is a complex process that varies across social
contexts (e.g., culture) and over time. The current research examined the
levels and trajectories of self-reported emotions among US (n = 321) and
Japanese (n = 388) adolescents (age range: 11–14 at Time 1). Emotions were
conceptualized as high arousal positive (HAP), low arousal positive (LAP),
high arousal negative (HAN), and low arousal negative (LAN). At each time
point, US adolescents (vs. Japanese) showed greater positive and lower
negative emotions (both arousal levels). Positive and negative emotions
were negatively associated in the US, but the associations were not
present or were positive in Japan. While US adolescents’ HAP and LAN
emotions remained stable, Japanese adolescents showed increases in HAP and
LAN emotions over time. However, both groups showed increases at similar
rates for HAN and no change in LAP emotions. Collectively, findings
suggest that emotions are both pancultural and culture-specific and
highlight the value of considering valence and arousal in cross-cultural
examinations of emotions.