Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Cognitive Emotional Regulation Difficulties Questionnaire (CERQ) in Higher Education Students in Times of Covid-19

Abstract

The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) is an instrument developed to assess the cognitive strategies of emotional regulation used by people after experiencing a negative event. The present study aimed to validate the Spanish version of the CERQ in students of the University of Granada (Spain) during the Covid-19 homebound. An online scale was developed and applied based on the Spanish version of the CERQ-S36, consisting of 36 items structured around nine cognitive strategies. Using a mixed sampling, the scale was applied to 450 students from different degree programmes. Regarding the psychometric results of the scale, firstly, in relation to reliability as internal consistency, we found that the scale applied to University students in a Covid-19 setting is highly stable. Secondly, in reference to concurrent criterion validity, we can conclude that the items individually measure the same as the total scale (taken as internal criterion), and thirdly and finally, in relation to construct validation, the two factor analyses implemented, one exploratory and the other confirmatory in nature, conform a factor structure of latent dimensions identical to the original one. In conclusion, the results obtained as a whole suggest that the CERQ-S36 scale could be useful for assessing cognitive coping in University populations in times of crisis. In situations such as the current global emergency due to the presence of Covid-19, the scale is useful for understanding emotional regulation strategies. More studies should be carried out with this scale to find out how emotions influence and what consequences they have on the health and psychological functioning of University students in times of social crisis.

Emotion Regulation in Adolescents: Evidence of the Validity and Factor Structure of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ)

“…The CERQ is an emotion regulation assessment tool that allows discrimination between cognitive and behavioural strategies [ 33 ]. Prior studies have shown empirical evidence of the psychometric properties of the CERQ in the Spanish population [ 32 , 33 , 43 , 46 , 66 , 67 ]. However, less attention has been paid to its properties in the adolescent population.…”

“…This tool consists of 36 items distributed into nine subscales related to emotion regulation strategies. This questionnaire has shown to be reliable and valid in prior studies with both Spanish [ 32 , 43 ] and international populations [ 37 , 44 , 48 , 49 , 50 ].…”

“…The growing scientific interest in the personal and interpersonal processes and skills that facilitate emotion regulation has been highlighted by the increase in publications on these topics over the last 30 years [ 30 , 31 , 32 ]. A key factor for research in this area is the availability of instruments that allow accurate assessment of the emotion regulation mechanisms.…”

Neuroeducación y funciones ejecutivas. Evaluación y estrategias educativas frente a la regulación emocional en el aula

“…El creciente interés científico por los procesos y las habilidades personales e interpersonales que facilitan la regulación emocional se ha hecho patente en el incremento de publicaciones en los últimos 30 años (Domínguez-Lara, 2017;Garnefski et al, 2002;Rodríguez-Sabiote et al, 2021). Esta proliferación de investigaciones ha puesto de relieve el importante papel que puede desempeñar la regulación emocional en la evaluación, tratamiento y prevención de diversos problemas salud mental.…”

“…El CERQ es instrumento de evaluación de la regulación emocional que permite discriminar entre estrategias cognitivas y conductuales (Carvajal et al, 2021). Estudios anteriores han demostrado evidencias empíricas sobre las propiedades psicométricas del CERQ en población española (Carvajal et al, 2021;Chamizo Nieto et al, 2020;Domínguez-Sánchez et al, 2011;Holgado-Tello et al, 2018;Orgilés et al, 2018;Rodríguez-Sabiote et al, 2021). Sin embargo, se ha prestado menos atención a sus propiedades en la población adolescente.…”