A Spanish Adaptation of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire

Abstract

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003 ) is widely used to assess individual differences in reappraisal and suppression. The present study tests the psychometric properties, reliability, and validity of a Spanish adaptation of the ERQ on a broad sample of participants of Spanish nationality aged 18–80 years (38% males, 62% females). Results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed the expected two-factor structure. Results also indicated adequate internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. In terms of affective functioning, reappraisal use was positively associated with positive emotion, whereas suppression use was negatively associated with positive emotion. In terms of social functioning, reappraisal use was positively associated with social functioning, whereas suppression use was negatively associated with social functioning. These findings suggest that the Spanish version of the ERQ is a valid instrument for evaluating strategies of emotion regulation in the Spanish-speaking population, and can be used for laboratory and applied studies.