The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample

Background: Difficulties in emotion regulation are a key risk factor for affective disorders. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) is a 10-item measure of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. It is widely used tool in the United States, however,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Preece, David, Becerra, R., Hasking, Penelope, McEvoy, Peter, Boyes, Mark, Sauer-Zavala, S., Chen, Wai, Gross, J.J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: ELSEVIER 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93747
_version_ 1848765778211373056
author Preece, David
Becerra, R.
Hasking, Penelope
McEvoy, Peter
Boyes, Mark
Sauer-Zavala, S.
Chen, Wai
Gross, J.J.
author_facet Preece, David
Becerra, R.
Hasking, Penelope
McEvoy, Peter
Boyes, Mark
Sauer-Zavala, S.
Chen, Wai
Gross, J.J.
author_sort Preece, David
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Background: Difficulties in emotion regulation are a key risk factor for affective disorders. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) is a 10-item measure of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. It is widely used tool in the United States, however, most psychometric studies of the ERQ have so far been conducted with college students and some researchers have recently questioned its factorial validity in non-student samples. In this study, we conducted the first confirmatory factor analysis study of the ERQ in a United States general community sample. Method: We examined the ERQ's factor structure, measurement invariance across age, education and gender categories, internal consistency reliability, and concurrent validity with a sample of 508 adults. Results: The intended two-factor model (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) was an excellent fit to the data, and this structure was invariant across different age, education, and gender categories. Both ERQ scale scores had good omega and alpha reliabilities, and correlated as expected with depression and anxiety symptoms. Cognitive reappraisal was negatively correlated with these symptoms, whereas expressive suppression was positively correlated with these symptoms. Limitations: We did not include a clinical sample and future psychometric studies of the ERQ in specialised clinical populations would be useful. Conclusions: The ERQ appears to have strong psychometric properties when used with general community members from the United States. ERQ scores can be confidently used and compared across adults of different ages, genders, and educational backgrounds.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T11:40:39Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-93747
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T11:40:39Z
publishDate 2021
publisher ELSEVIER
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-937472023-12-20T03:13:12Z The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample Preece, David Becerra, R. Hasking, Penelope McEvoy, Peter Boyes, Mark Sauer-Zavala, S. Chen, Wai Gross, J.J. Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Clinical Neurology Psychiatry Neurosciences & Neurology Emotion Regulation Questionnaire Factor structure Psychometric United States General community Emotion Regulation Questionnaire Factor structure General community Psychometric United States Adult Affective Symptoms Emotional Regulation Female Humans Male Psychometrics Reproducibility of Results Surveys and Questionnaires Humans Reproducibility of Results Affective Symptoms Psychometrics Adult Female Male Surveys and Questionnaires Emotional Regulation Background: Difficulties in emotion regulation are a key risk factor for affective disorders. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) is a 10-item measure of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. It is widely used tool in the United States, however, most psychometric studies of the ERQ have so far been conducted with college students and some researchers have recently questioned its factorial validity in non-student samples. In this study, we conducted the first confirmatory factor analysis study of the ERQ in a United States general community sample. Method: We examined the ERQ's factor structure, measurement invariance across age, education and gender categories, internal consistency reliability, and concurrent validity with a sample of 508 adults. Results: The intended two-factor model (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression) was an excellent fit to the data, and this structure was invariant across different age, education, and gender categories. Both ERQ scale scores had good omega and alpha reliabilities, and correlated as expected with depression and anxiety symptoms. Cognitive reappraisal was negatively correlated with these symptoms, whereas expressive suppression was positively correlated with these symptoms. Limitations: We did not include a clinical sample and future psychometric studies of the ERQ in specialised clinical populations would be useful. Conclusions: The ERQ appears to have strong psychometric properties when used with general community members from the United States. ERQ scores can be confidently used and compared across adults of different ages, genders, and educational backgrounds. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93747 10.1016/j.jad.2021.01.071 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ELSEVIER fulltext
spellingShingle Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Clinical Neurology
Psychiatry
Neurosciences & Neurology
Emotion Regulation Questionnaire
Factor structure
Psychometric
United States
General community
Emotion Regulation Questionnaire
Factor structure
General community
Psychometric
United States
Adult
Affective Symptoms
Emotional Regulation
Female
Humans
Male
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires
Humans
Reproducibility of Results
Affective Symptoms
Psychometrics
Adult
Female
Male
Surveys and Questionnaires
Emotional Regulation
Preece, David
Becerra, R.
Hasking, Penelope
McEvoy, Peter
Boyes, Mark
Sauer-Zavala, S.
Chen, Wai
Gross, J.J.
The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample
title The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample
title_full The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample
title_fullStr The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample
title_full_unstemmed The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample
title_short The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Relations with Affective Symptoms in a United States General Community Sample
title_sort emotion regulation questionnaire: psychometric properties and relations with affective symptoms in a united states general community sample
topic Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Clinical Neurology
Psychiatry
Neurosciences & Neurology
Emotion Regulation Questionnaire
Factor structure
Psychometric
United States
General community
Emotion Regulation Questionnaire
Factor structure
General community
Psychometric
United States
Adult
Affective Symptoms
Emotional Regulation
Female
Humans
Male
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires
Humans
Reproducibility of Results
Affective Symptoms
Psychometrics
Adult
Female
Male
Surveys and Questionnaires
Emotional Regulation
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1173043
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93747