The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (ERQ-S): A 6-item measure of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression

Background: Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in affective functioning. One of the most commonly used measures of emotion regulation is the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), a 10-item self-report measure assessing frequency of use of two common emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. In this study, we aimed to optimize the utility of the ERQ for time-pressured settings by introducing and validating a 6-item short form called the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (ERQ-S). Method: General community (N = 508) and college student (N = 245) samples from the United States completed online surveys containing a range of psychometric self-report measures. For each sample, we examined the factor structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of the ERQ-S. Results: Our confirmatory factor analyses supported the intended 2-factor structure of the ERQ-S (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression factors), with all items loading well on their intended factor in both samples. As expected, the ERQ-S correlated highly with the ERQ. A profile of low cognitive reappraisal use and high expressive suppression use on the ERQ-S was significantly associated with higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties, alexithymia, and affective symptoms. Limitations: We did not examine psychometric performance in a clinical sample, or other cultural groups outside the US. All concurrent validity markers were self-report questionnaires. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the ERQ-S successfully retains the psychometric strengths of the ERQ. The shorter format of the ERQ-S should therefore help to optimize the measurement of emotion regulation in time pressured settings.