French validation of the Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire

Background

Emotion regulation (ER) has become the target of multiple clinical interventions, given its transdiagnostic features. The goal of this study was to validate a French version of the Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire (ERSQ, Berking & Znoj, 2008), which provides an overview of the ER skills described in the Adaptive Coping with Emotions model.

Method

This online study was comprised of different questionnaires designed to analyse the psychometric properties of the ERSQ in both French and Canadian non-clinical populations (n = 658).

Results

The nine subscales based on the nine factors show a satisfactory internal consistency. The scale also demonstrates good convergent validity and acceptable test-retest validity. The proposed nine-factor model shows an adequate fit to the data, with all approximate fit indices showing acceptable model fit.

Limitation

This online study can be associated with common limits of self-reported measures. Moreover, our results should be replicated in future studies, for example in clinical samples, to validate its discriminant capacity.

Conclusions

The French version of the ERSQ can be considered as a reliable instrument for assessing ER skills. Contrary to other related questionnaires, the ERSQ measures multiple dimensions considered as possible targets of psychological interventions.