engleski

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Croatian adaptation and conceptual validation

Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ, Gross & John, 2003) is a measure of habitual use of two different aspects of emotion regulation, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We validated the Croatian version of the ERQ and we additionally tested the conceptual validity of the questionnaire by evaluating previously unexplored hypotheses. The current study first explored the factor structure of the ERQ and confirmed its ability to reliably distinguish between the use of the two emotion regulation strategies. Next, we tested criterion validity of ERQ, focusing on its discriminant and incremental validity. To that aim, we tested the relations of the two ERQ scales with the Big five dimensions of personality, their facets, as well as with habitual positive and negative mood. The observed relations corroborated the results of earlier studies, allowing for the conclusion that Croatian version of ERQ has equivalent predictive validity as ERQs in other languages. Finally, we tested conceptual validity of the ERQ in a quasi- experimental context by exploring its relations with refined and more specific selfreport measures of experienced emotion and ongoing emotional regulation processes. Reappraisal scale was related to these measures in a conceptually- fitting manner. However, we observed some unexpected relations of suppression scale with situational emotional reactions. While the validation of the Croatian version of ERQ that was based on the replication of its factor structure and its criterion validity largely corresponds to the results of the previous studies, its additional testing in the quasi- experimental context showed that the suppression subscale could represent a measure of emotional inhibition rather than the tendency to hide one’s current feelings.

Emotiona Regulation Questionnaire, Croatian language, Psychometric properties ; Conceptual validation ; Emotional reactivity

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