Gender invariance and psychometric properties of a Brazilian version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ)

Introduction: Emotion regulation refers to use of strategies to change or suppress a response to an affective experience and is an important component of an individual's subjective wellbeing. Difficulties properly regulating emotions are related to psychopathological processes. Objective: This study assessed the factor structure of the Brazilian version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ); the invariance of its psychometric parameters as a function of gender; and its convergent validity with other scales measuring affective processes. Method: A total of 813 adults (73.7% women), aged between 18 and 64 years and with a high educational level used an electronic platform to complete the ERQ, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Affect Scale (AS), and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Factor structure, reliability, and validity of the adapted version of the ERQ were investigated. Results: Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) revealed adequate goodness of fit for the ERQ's two-factor model (cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression), providing evidence of invariance of its psychometric parameters as a function of gender. Correlations between the ERQ's factors and measures of affect and emotional dysregulation presented positive indicators, with significant associations between emotion regulation and affective experiences depending on gender. Conclusion: The ERQ presents good psychometric indicators for use with the Brazilian population.