Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the emotion regulation questionnaire in Chinese left-behind children

Abstract

Left-behind children (LBC) is a group of children who live without their parents and receive less parental care and education. Compared with non-left-behind children (NLBC), LBC are more likely to develop emotional or behavior problems. This study aimed to explore the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Chinese version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) in Chinese LBC. A sample of 2960 middle school students (44.35% male, 55.28% female; age: 12 to 20 years) including LBC (n = 1365) and NLBC (n = 1595) was used. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA); confirmatory factor analyses (CFA); tests of measurement invariance; t-tests of gender and left-behind experience differences; tests of reliability and convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity were conducted. The results showed that two factors were extracted, and the CFA replicated the original two-factor structure (S-Bχ2/df ≈ 106.778/34, P