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.
Highlights
Emotion regulation, in terms of processes related to modifying and influencing when and how specific emotions are expressed and how the emotions are experienced (Gross, 1998b), has become acknowledged as an important factor for wellbeing and mental health over the past decades (Gross & John, 2003; Kring & Sloan, 2010)
With a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) we examined the fit of the twofactor model of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) with a cognitive reappraisal and an expressive suppression subscale, respectively (Gross & John, 2003)
Demographics and Emotion Regulation Significant differences emerged between mothers and fathers regarding use of emotion regulation strategy with mothers reporting slightly higher levels of cognitive reappraisal (mothers: M = 5.04, SD = 0.97; fathers: M = 4.83, SD = 0.89; t(1353) = 4.13, p < .001, Cohen’s d = 0.22) and fathers using more expressive suppression (mothers: M = 2.98, SD = 0.91; fathers: M = 3.49, SD = 0.92; t(1385) = -10.3, p < .001, Cohen’s d = 0.56)
Summary
In terms of processes related to modifying and influencing when and how specific emotions are expressed and how the emotions are experienced (Gross, 1998b), has become acknowledged as an important factor for wellbeing and mental health over the past decades (Gross & John, 2003; Kring & Sloan, 2010) Emotion regulation involves both conscious and unconscious processes, positive and negative emotions, and may include generating, reducing as well as sustaining emotions (Gross & Thompson, 2007). Adequate emotion regulation skills such as keeping one’s cool or reappraising a problematic situation might enable a parent to, more often, cope effectively with a difficult situation, for instance through validating the childs perspective, coaching the child, and using appropriate problem-solving or positive parenting strategies (see Bariola, Gullone, & Hughes, 2011, for a review of research on parent and child emotion regulation) This could provide the child with a positive role model for emotion regulation. Knowledge on specific emotion regulation strategies that are effective and could lead to positive child and parental behavior, wellbeing and interconnectedness with each other, would be informative both theoretically and in treatment planning
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