Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ): Evidence of Construct Validity and Internal Consistency

Abstract Gather evidence of construct and convergent validity and internal consistency of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). A total of 441 students, mostly female (54.6%), with a mean age of 16 years (SD = 1.14), answered the ERQ and demographic questions. They were randomly distributed in two databases, which were submitted to exploratory (sample 1) and confirmatory factor analysis (sample 2). The exploratory results indicated a three-factor structure: Cognitive Reappraisal, Redirection of Attentional Focus and Emotional Suppression, which together explained 59.3% of the total variance (α = 0,67; α = 0,63; α = 0,64). For the confirmatory analyses, the following goodness-of-fit indices were found: χ² (24) = 67.02, p <0.001; χ² / df = 2.79, GFI = 0.93; AGFI = 0.88; CFI = 0.88 and RMSEA = 0.08 (IC 90% = 0.064-0.100). Thus, it is concluded that the ERQ possesses satisfactory psychometric indices, being the promising instrument for evaluation of emotion regulation.