Suppression or aggression: Qualitative investigation of emotion expression among Iranian female adolescents.

Objectives: Emotion expression is a critical element of adaptive emotion regulation and is positively related to psychosocial well-being. This study was conducted following another cross-sectional study by the researchers which revealed that in female adolescents in Yazd, Iran, the expression of emotions is weak. The aim of this study was to learn more about barriers to expressing emotions in female adolescent students, from their point of view, in Yazd. Design: Data were collected using two focused-group discussions, as well as six individual interviews. Results: : The theme “barriers to expressing emotions in the proper ways” was obtained from the data which consisted of three categories including lack of skills, lack of knowledge and planning, and wrong attitudes. Lack of skills comprises two subcategories; “aggression due to poor communication skills” and “silence due to weakness of assertiveness skills”. Similarly, wrong attitudes encompass two subcategories; “aggression due to wrong attitudes” and “silence due to wrong attitudes”. Conclusion: The results of the present study can provide researchers and policy makers with a useful guide for development of effective interventions to promote proper emotion expression in female adolescents.