Acculturation and expressed emotion in Caucasian, Latino, and black relatives of patients with schizophrenia

High expressed emotion (high EE) in family members (high levels of criticism, emotional overinvolvement, and/or hostility) has been found to be predictive of a poorer course of illness for patients with schizophrenia in many different cultures. Acculturation has also been found to relate to symptom severity and clinical course in a number of disorders (e.g., substance abuse, schizophrenia). There is reason to believe that acculturation may interact with EE, however, this relationship has yet to be examined systematically. The present study evaluated the relationship between acculturation and EE in a sample of 57 Caucasian, Latino, and black caregivers of patients with schizophrenia. Drawing from earlier research, it was hypothesized that more acculturated Caucasian and Latino relatives and less acculturated black relatives would be designated as high EE. Hypotheses were partially supported as results demonstrated that greater acculturation was associated with high EE for Latinos and low EE for blacks.