Factorial Structure of the German Version of the Emotion Expression Scale for Children in Early Adolescents

Abstract

In Germany, there are no self-report questionnaires assessing emotion awareness in youth under the age of 16 years or simultaneously with emotion suppression. The "Emotion Expression Scale for Children" (EESC) measuring lack of emotion awareness and reluctance to express emotions in 10-to 15-year-olds can fill this gap. Goal of this study was to evaluate the factorial structure of the German version of the 16-item EESC in a test and a validation sample of overall 588 adolescents (314 boys; M age = 11.6 years; SD = .74). The original structure comprised of the factors "Poor Awareness" and "Expressive Reluctance" could not be confirmed in the test sample using confirmatory factor analysis. An exploratory factor analysis yield a one-factor structure. Modification process led to an adjusted one-factor model with 13 items, which fitted the data best in the validation sample. The factor was named "Low Emotion Awareness/ Suppression." Results indicated that the EESC structure is not measurement invariant. Reasons for missing fit of the two-factor model are discussed.

Family cohesion, shame-proneness, expressive suppression, and adolescent mental health—A path model approach

“…The original version of the EESC has two dimensions: poor awareness and expressive suppression. However, the German validation study by Nitkowski et al (2019) did not replicate this finding and the authors thus argue for a unidimensional structure with only 13 of the original items (“Low Emotion Awareness/Suppression”; PA3, PA7, and ES3 excluded). We therefore followed the German recommendation, but first evaluated the fit to our data (see “Preliminary Analyses”).…”

“…Expressive suppression was measured using the Emotion Expression Scale for Children (EESC; Penza-Clyve and Zeman, 2002 ; German version by Nitkowski et al, 2019 ). The EESC is a 16-item questionnaire assessing poor emotional awareness with eight items (e.g., “I often do not know why I am angry.”) and expressive reluctance with eight items (e.g., “I don’t show how I really feel in order not to hurt others’ feelings.”).…”

“…Prior to model analysis, we performed an attrition analysis comparing the eligible participants who discontinued the survey with those who completed it. Moreover, as Nitkowski et al (2019) argued that the German EESC is one-dimensional instead of two-dimensional, we performed a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of our data to investigate the data structure. For the path model, we used all variables as mean scores, except for family cohesion, for which a linear ratio score was computed (see above).…”

The Bifactor Structure of the Emotion Expression Scale for Children in a Sample of School-Aged Portuguese Children

“…Namely, the EESC’s psychometric properties were recently investigated by Nitkowski et al (2019) in a study aimed at validating the German version of the questionnaire. In a sample of 588 adolescents (aged 10–15 years), the authors conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine a correlated two-factor model, a hierarchical model, and a single-factor model.…”

“… Nitkowski et al’s (2019) study was the only one to validate the original EESC among a different population. However, some previous studies also explored its factor structure without aiming to validate the EESC, thereby contributing to the debate around its uni- or bidimensionality.…”