Evaluating factorial structure and determining Psychometric properties of Heidelberg Form for Emotion Regulation Strategies

Abstract

Aim and Background: It is essential to development an accurate scale for the evaluation of emotion regulation strategies that not only integrates different important strategies into a unified multidimensional questionnaire but also complements the existing measures. The aim of this research was the evaluation of Psychometric properties Heidelberg form for emotion regulation strategies. Methods and Materials: The design of this study was testing and correlation. Statistical population of this research was all students in University of Birjand in the first year of undergraduate of 2017-2018 academic years. 301 students were selected by cluster sampling method among them. Data were collected by using Heidelberg form for Emotion Regulation Strategies (HFERST) and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). To determine the Inner consistency of HFERST, Cronbach's alpha and Split-halves coefficient and to determine its validity, Content validity, EFA, CFA and Convergent validity were used. Findings: The results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale had a good six-factor structure that explained 55.53% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed this structure. The internal consistency of sub-scales was obtained with the Cronbach's alpha in the desired range. The results of Convergent validity indicated that there was a positive and significant correlation between HFERST dimensions including reappraisal, acceptance and experience suppression with Positive refocusing, positive reappraisal and acceptance of CERQ. Conclusions: The results of statistical analysis showed that the Persian version of Heidelberg Form for Emotion Regulation Strategies has acceptable psychometric properties and can be used as a reliable tool in the Iranian population.

Keywords

• emotion regulation
• reliability
• validity