Initial psychometric studies of the emotional self-regulation scale: Adult and child-youth versions

Abstract

Emotional self-regulation is the ability to moderate attention and behaviors from different circumstances and events, and is associated to the healthy human adaptation. The present study sought for validity evidences based on the internal structure of the Adult and the Child-Youth Emotional Self-Regulation Scale and their reliability indices. The adult version was answered by 802 adults and the child-youth one was answered by 600 children and adolescents. The four-factor solution was the most adequate in both versions. The externalization of aggression (adult version) and experience evaluation (children’s version) factors, and three other factors (appropriate coping strategies, pessimism and paralysis) were found with similar nomenclatures in the two scales. The reliability indices ranged between 0.69 and 0.98 (adult version) and 0.91 and 0.95 (child-youth version). In both versions, the factorial loads were higher than 0.50, explaining 62.7% (adult version) and 64.2% (child version) of the total variance. The results are discussed in the light of the existing literature.