Evidence for validity, reliability and measurement invariance of the emotion regulation questionnaire for children and adolescents (ERQ-CA) in secondary students from Chile

Emotion regulation (ER) is associated with both healthy and unhealthy behavioral and affective responses, especially in adolescents. It is frequently assessed by self-report measures such as the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA), which has shown mixed psychometric properties when used in Spanish-speaking adolescents. The present study provides evidence for its validity and reliability in a sample of secondary students in Chile. Six-hundred and thirty-four students were recruited from ten educational institutions to complete the ERQ-CA, along with the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Skills Questionnaire (CBTSQ), the Suicide Ideation Questionnaire Junior (SIQ-JR), the Multidimensional Adolescent Functioning Scale (MAFS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the ERQ-CA for two- and single-factor models. Convergent and discriminant validity as well as measurement invariance were also tested. The original ERQ-CA two-factor structure showed the best model fit and parsimony along with high internal consistency. It also demonstrated high convergent and discriminant validity, with reappraisal strategies positively correlating with cognitive-behavioral skills and psychosocial functioning and negatively with suicide ideation and depressive symptoms, while the opposite was true for suppression strategies. Partial scalar invariance was established when testing by biological sex (male/female) and psychiatric treatment history (past/current/no). We conclude that the ERQ-CA was found to be a valid and reliable self-report instrument for the assessment of ER strategies in secondary students, proving its utility as a research and clinical tool.