Emotion Control Questionnaire Research Articles

Repression-sensitization and emotion control

The internal structure of the Repression-Sensitization (R-S) Scale was examined by means of factor analysis. Following a scree test, four factors were extracted: lassitude/depression, extraversion/confidence, guilelessness/trust, and emotional lability. Concurrent validation using the Emotion Control Questionnaire and the Eysenck Personality Inventory showed that the factors extracted from the R-S Scale were related in predictable ways to existing personality constructs, but the results argue against the use of the overall R-S score as an index of emotional response style.

Coping dispositions and physiological recovery from a speech preparation stressor

Reductions in autonomic activation and muscle tension were considered to indicate adaptive relaxation following relief from a presumed stressor. Repressive coping styles were predicted to give less fall in various psychophysiological indices of activation, indicating a physiological ‘cost’ (of repression of feelings). Forty-two male volunteers were unexpectedly given 3 min to prepare a speech for immediate delivery. But then no speech was required, only relaxation while listening to 8 min of soothing music. Concurrent psychophysiological indices included integrated neck trapezius muscle electromyogram. non-specific skin conductance response (rate and mean amplitude), heart rate, finger pulse volume, and finger pulse volume fluctuation rate. Saliva was sampled after speech preparation and relaxation, and [K + ] and [Na + ] were measured. Eysenck's ‘Eysenck Personality Questionnaire’, Spielberger's State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory and Rationality/Emotional Defensiveness Scale, Roger's Emotion Control Questionnaire, and Krohne's Mainz Coping Inventory were applied. Introverts showed more tension (higher tonic electromyogram) during speech preparation and afterwards did not exhibit adaptive reduction in electromyogram. Emotional inhibition correlated negatively with electromyogram change. These results support the hypothesis that slow muscular relaxation following release from a stressor is a feature of introversion and emotional inhibition.

Detachment and coping: The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies

The present study describes the construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies entitled the Coping Styles Questionnaire (CSQ). Earlier studies had suggested that there were three primary coping components: task, emotion, and avoidance. In part, the validation of the CSQ confirmed these results, extracting factors concerned with problem-solving (Rational Coping, RATCOP), emotion (Emotional Coping, EMCOP) and avoidance (Avoidance Coping, AVCOP). However, a new factor was uncovered which tapped distancing or detachment (Detached Coping, DETCOP). Subsequent analyses suggested a grouping of two adaptive (RATCOP and DETCOP) and two maladaptive (EMCOP and AVCOP) coping styles, which was confirmed by the concurrent validation of the scale using the Emotional Control Questionnaire.

Psychological, physical, and interpersonal correlates of emotional expressiveness, conflict, and control

This article examines the relations between emotional expression, conflict over expression, and emotional control and psychological and physical distress. Fifty married couples completed two mail‐in surveys containing the Emotional Expressiveness Questionnaire (EEQ), the Ambivalence Over Emotional Expression Questionnaire (AEQ), and the Emotional Control Questionnaire (ECQ), as well as measures of psychological and physical well‐being. They also made expressiveness and well‐being ratings of their spouses. AEQ and ECQ scores were significantly positively correlated with measures of psychological distress and questionnaire measures of physical discomfort. In addition, AEQ scores for items dealing explicitly with anger predicted visits to health‐care provider for illness. EEQ scores did not predict either psychological distress or physical symptoms. AEQ scores were also positively correlated with spouse's symptoms and alcohol use. Wives' expressiveness ratings for their husbands were negatively correlated with a number of indices of psychological distress, while husbands' ratings of wives' expressiveness were positively correlated with measures of distress. Generally, expressiveness, inhibition, and conflict over expression in one spouse did not consistently predict well‐being of the other. Implications of these findings for future research in the area of emotion and illness as well as in relationship satisfaction are discussed.

Aggression, anger control and emotion control

The present study was aimed at investigating emotion and emotion control strategies amongst groups of offenders classified as either angry or non-angry. The dependent variables were Governor's Reports, trait anger measured by the State-Trait Anger Inventory (STAS), the 10 scales from the Special Hospitals Assessment of Personality and Socialisation (SHAPS) and the four scales comprising the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ). Results showed that only Governor's Reports, the SHAPS aggression scale and the rehearsal and aggression control scales from the ECQ distinguished significantly between the groups. The findings were discussed in the context of their implications for anger control training programmes for offenders.

The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring emotion control

In an earlier study, Roger and Nesshoever ( Person. individ. Diff. 8, 527–534, 1987) reported the construction and validation of a scale for measuring emotion control entitled the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ). Factor analysis revealed a 4-factor structure comprising Rehearsal, Emotional Inhibition, Aggression Control and Benign Control, which was replicated on an independent sample of subjects. The earlier study also presented the relationships between the ECQ factors and a variety of other personality scales. Subsequent work has shown that one of the ECQ factors in particular (Rehearsal) is significantly related to both heart-rate recovery and urinary cortisol elevations following stress. However, one of the disadvantages of the ECQ was the brevity of the factors, two of which (Emotional Inhibition and Benign Control) comprised just nine items each, and the present study was aimed at extending the range of behaviour sampled by the scale. Factor analyses of an expanded item pool confirmed the structure of the earlier scale and resulted in a new scale comprising 56 items, fourteen in each of the four factors. Other findings for the new scale (ECQ2) indicate that it is psychometrically equivalent to the original, and further data on the concurrent validation of the emotion control construct are presented.

Individual differences in delayed heart-rate recovery following stress: The role of extraversion, neuroticism and emotional control

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of individual differences on heart-rate reactivity and recovery following exposure to a laboratory stressor (performance on the Stroop task). The personality scales used were EPI Extraversion and Neuroticism and four subscales comprising the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ). Contrary to predictions the EPI scales were unrelated to the physiological indices, but there were significant correlations between the Benign Control scale of the ECQ and heart rate reactivity and between the Rehearsal scale and heart-rate recovery.

The construction and preliminary validation of a scale for measuring emotional control

This study reports on the construction and preliminary validation of a scale for measuring emotional control, which has been developed in the context of research on stress. Factor analysis of the initial item pool uncovered a 40-item, four-factor structure which was replicated in an independent sample of subjects. The four factors, entitled Rehearsal, Emotional Inhibition, Aggression Control and Benign Control, were all internally consistent and stable over time. Preliminary concurrent validation of the final form of the scale, entitled the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ), showed that the factors were related in meaningful ways to other relevant indices of personality. The study concludes with suggestions for research applications using the ECQ.