The Emotional Regulation Scale (ERS) for early childhood: Structure and initial validation

The Emotional Regulation Scale (ERS) was developed as a caregiver-report measure to assess emotional regulation patterns in children aged 2–6 years. The scale was designed to address the need for a developmentally sensitive tool that captures distinct regulatory domains within daily home and preschool routines. Item development was informed by developmental psychology, attachment theory, emotion regulation literature, and clinical observations from early childhood settings. After expert review and pilot refinement, the main validation phase included 460 typically developing children recruited from preschools and early childhood education centers. Exploratory factor analysis supported a five-factor structure, accounting for 64.8% of the variance (KMO = .93; Bartlett x2 (741) = 6821.47, p < .001). Confirmatory factor analysis in a second subsample showed strong model fit (CFI = .95, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .056, SRMR = .049). Internal consistency was satisfactory to high across subscales (α = .83–.91; ω = .84–.92). Findings provide initial psychometric support for the ERS as a multidimensional measure of early emotional regulation, with potential value for screening and intervention planning in early childhood and occupational therapy contexts.