The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Norms for Swedish Parents of Children Aged 10-13 Years

Abstract

This study evaluated the internal consistency and factor structure of the Swedish version of the 10-item Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and its relation to family warmth and conflict, marital satisfaction, and parental discipline strategies, in addition to obtaining norms from the general population of parents of children aged 10-13 years. The ERQ has two subscales measuring an individual’s use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as emotion regulation strategies. A random non-referred sample of parents of 1433 children aged 10-13 years completed the ERQ and other questions targeting the family functioning and couple adjustment (Warmth/Conflict in the family; Dyadic Adjustment Scale-short form) and parental strategies (Parent Practices Interview). The results indicated adequate internal consistencies (Cronbach’s alpha) of the two subscales (cognitive reappraisal .81; expressive suppression .73). Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in close to acceptable fit (RMSEA = 0.089; CFI = 0.912; GFI = 0.93). Norms are presented as percentiles for mothers and fathers. The ERQ cognitive reappraisal scale correlated positively with marital adjustment (DAS), family warmth, appropriate discipline (PPI), and negatively with harsh discipline (PPI). The ERQ expressive suppression subscale was negatively correlated with marital satisfaction (DAS) and family warmth, and positively with harsh discipline (PPI). To conclude, this study showed the adequate reliability and construct validity of the ERQ in a large sample of Swedish parents. Specific use of suppression or reappraisal as a parental emotion regulation strategy was related to couple satisfaction, warmth in the family and employment of adequate discipline strategies in expected direction.