Psychometric Evaluation of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire in a Clinical Sample

The factor structure, reliability, and concurrent validity of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire were evaluated in a large clinical sample (N = 1,294). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the previously supported two-factor solution distinguishing two emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. The total sample was randomly split into two subsamples to permit cross-validation of the confirmatory factor analysis solution (Ns = 633 and 661). Although the initial two-factor model revealed poor model fit, fit was acceptable after re-specifying the model to freely estimate a substantively interpretable correlated residual between items 1 and 3. Acceptable fit of the correlated residual model was replicated in the cross-validation subsample. Both factors had strong scale reliability. In support of its concurrent validity, Reappraisal was moderately (positively) correlated with a measure of mood repair (Trait Meta Mood Scale) and was more strongly associated with mood repair and neuroticism than with symptoms of anxiety or depression. Suppression was more strongly (negatively) correlated with extraversion than mood repair and most symptom measures, except for self-reported social anxiety. The current study extends the literature by demonstrating the favorable psychometric properties Emotion Regulation Questionnaire in a large clinical sample.