CSBMHP Faculty Affiliate
Dr. Vaishali Raval
Contact
Information:Dr. Vaishali Raval
308 PSYC
513.529.6209 Voice
513.529.2420 Fax
ravalvv@muohio.edu
My research interests focus on parenting, child development, and psychopathology in cultural context, with a particular emphasis on understanding children’s emotions. Although expressions of intense negative emotions are considered inappropriate by Caucasian middle-class groups in the West, emotional expression is generally viewed favorably. In contrast, Asian collectivist cultures value emotion control rather than expression. Emotions and emotional disorders are considered less acceptable than physical symptoms (Kirmayer, 2001). What do children in such cultures learn about emotions? Do children in these cultures who inhibit the expression of emotion end up with compromised health, or do they end up “just fine”? In today’s globalizing world economy, these questions become important not just for the theoretical advancement of the science of psychology, but also to inform policy decisions concerning the world’s largest populations (i.e., India and China).
One of my projects focuses on articulating a model of normative emotion expression and parental socialization in South Asian Hindu children, and the ways in which it is distinct from the model in Caucasian middle-class. A second project examines variation in such a model across South Asian children who present with various forms of psychopathology . A third project explores anger and aggression in street youth in India using a qualitative methodology that compliments quantitative research designs.