Abstract
ObjectivesEmotion regulation has been extensively studied in various areas of psychology. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) was developed to assess two specific constructs associated with emotion control—cognitive reappraisal and expression suppression (Gross and John, 2003). The instrument displayed sound psychometric properties; however, to date, inquiry regarding the measure’s characteristics has been limited. This study aims to measure cross-gender invariance [measurement invariance (MI)] in Chinese undergraduates using the ERQ.MethodsThis study measured the psychometric properties of the ERQ in a sample of 847 Mainland China undergraduates (401 males and 446 females) through confirmatory factor analysis. The tests of MI were used to examine potential structural differences based on gender.ResultsThe findings supported the measure’s original structure with all demographic groups and demonstrated exceptional fit. Additional normative data for gender and ethnic groups are included as well. The results also supported the use of the instrument in future research.ConclusionThe two-factor structure in the ERQ establishes a cross-gender equivalence between males and females in Chinese college students. This study supports the use of the instrument in future research.
Highlights
Emotion regulation implies the process that individuals use to regulate, experience, and express their emotions (Gross, 2002; John and Gross, 2007; Wang et al, 2020)
The sample encompassed 93.42% of individuals who reported their ethnicity as Han, and a further 6.58% classified themselves as belonging to an ethnic minority
The item analysis revealed that the distinction and discrimination of the items were acceptable, which is consistent with previous studies that used the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to compare alternative structures of emotion regulation among Chinese rural-to-urban migrant youth (Wang et al, 2020)
Summary
Emotion regulation implies the process that individuals use to regulate, experience, and express their emotions (Gross, 2002; John and Gross, 2007; Wang et al, 2020). Individuals could alter their emotions in physiological activities, subjective experiences, and behavior (Ochsner and Gross, 2008; Miao, 2009; Gratz et al, 2015). Individuals regulate their emotions using the emotion regulation strategy, which enables them to improve, maintain, or reduce one or several emotional reactions (Gross, 1998; Dunsmore et al, 2013). Individual emotion regulation could appear and often play a role in daily life and various interpersonal interactions (Gross et al, 2006). Emotion regulation has become a pressing issue in the field of psychology
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