#  Featured Works 

 



       ![Featured Work](/sites/g/files/omnuum13121/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2026-11/MC_WebsiteGraphics_Cropped_Featured%20Publications.png?itok=nASzdtnY) 

 

 



 

 



 

## **The Impact of Context**

Chen, M. S., Cai, Q., Omari, D., Sanghvi, D. E., Lyu, S., & Bonanno, G. A. (2025). **Emotion regulation and mental health across cultures: A systematic review and meta-analysis.** *Nature Human Behaviour, 9*(6), 1228–1246. [\[PDF\]](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sNPsgoB0deFtdNR4-a5mXR8nxpsKNYiz/view?usp=drive_link)

- *This meta-analysis of 249 studies across 37 countries shows that cultural differences in emotion regulation are not limited to expressive suppression and that the cultural dimensions moderating them extend beyond individualism.*

Chen, M. S., & Soto, J. A. (2024). **Expanding the scope of diverse contexts in affective science.** *Affective Science, 5*(3), 201–208. [\[PDF\]](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O9sStEiBoT3BdBlMWlewMBaO2qTH5hhq/view?usp=sharing)

- *This commentary advocates for using a dimensional approach to culture and understanding how culture interact with situational and developmental contexts in affective science.*

Liu, A. Y., Bi, K., Lee, B., & Chen, M. S. (2026). **Is the more the merrier? Affective outcomes of emotion polyregulation depend on the idiographic effective strategy ratio across cultures.** *Affective Science, 7*, 381-395. [\[PDF\]](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xun9lFOuiUBnjffJX1Th_XyvKeGLTlwy/view?usp=sharing)

- *This paper introduced the idiographic effective strategy ratio and showed that, while which discrete strategies are effective differs across cultures, the benefit of using idiographically effective strategies demonstrates cultural similarity.*


## **Flexibility** 

Chen, M. S., & Joormann, J. (2026). **Emotion regulation flexibility in resilience and psychopathology: Status, challenges, and future directions.** *Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 33*(3), 275–286. [\[PDF\]](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1swspHn8lZZ-wcD_m2ThQxrWYATrB8dzf/view?usp=sharing)

- *This review critically evaluates a decade of research on emotion regulation flexibility and suggests future directions.*

Chen, M. S., Bi, K., Han, X., Sun, P., & Bonanno, G. A. (2024). **Emotion regulation flexibility and momentary affect in two cultures.** *Nature Mental Health, 2*, 450–459. [\[PDF\]](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12uslNoaiNmVecRvhXdLlCavoD5WudF78/view?usp=sharing)

- *This paper developed momentary measures of flexibility in 21-day EMA studies in the United States and China and found culturally consistent, independent benefits of flexibility across the evaluation, implementation, and monitoring stages of emotion regulation.*

Chen, M. S., Bi, K., Deng, W., Zhu, Y., & Joormann, J. (2026). **Variability is not flexibility: Emotion regulation switching predicts increased momentary distress when context is stable.** *Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 135*(7), 994–1006. [\[PDF\]](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yJySQQ4nMKE7pOuwoJLqa_w_thpaOc9Y/view?usp=sharing)

- This EMA study shows that switching strategies predicts more distress when the situation has not changed, underscoring the need to differentiate flexibility from variability.





 

 

 

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