| Cross-cultural interpersonal interactions present numerous emotional challenges frequently resulting in negative emotional outcomes that need to be overcome in order to promote harmonious relations between individuals from different cultures and alleviate the deleterious effects of prejudice, discrimination, and perpetual conflictual interactions that have characterized the history of cross-cultural relations. Research in the areas of prejudice, empathy, culture shock, and cross-cultural adaptiveness suggests that adaptive emotional processes within the recently developed framework of emotional intelligence would be an important link to more effective cross-cultural interactions. Unfortunately, little research has been done in this area. This study addresses the need to integrate separate but related areas of research relevant to cross-cultural relations (prejudice, empathy, culture shock, cross-cultural adaptiveness, and emotional intelligence) and examines the relationship between three significant components of emotional intelligence (empathy, emotional expression, and emotional regulation) and cross-cultural adaptability.;This study involved 80 participants (42 female and 38 male), non-clinical service providers between the ages of 18 and 81, drawn from Pacific Clinics, Long Beach Child Guidance Center, and Robeks Juice Corporation. Participants were group administered the Background Information Survey, the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (emotional regulation), the Affect Communication Test (emotional expression), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (empathy), and the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (cross-cultural adaptiveness). As hypothesized, analyses revealed significant positive correlations between emotional regulation and cross-cultural adaptability, emotional expression and cross-cultural adaptability, and empathy and cross-cultural adaptability. That is, as the self-report tendency to empathize with others, to communicate verbal and non-verbal emotions to others, and to regulate emotional experiences increases, the potential for cross-cultural adaptiveness also increases.;The results from this study demonstrate that emotional processes such as empathy, emotional expression, and emotional regulation are important to cross-cultural adaptability. Furthermore, as these processes constitute skills encompassed under the construct of emotional intelligence, emotional intelligence would be a practical and parsimonious framework in which to examine ways to enhance cross-cultural relations. |
