Validation of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire in older community‐dwelling adults

OBJECTIVE: To examine the psychometric properties of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) among a sample of older community-dwelling males and females and to also assess gender differences in the association between emotion regulation and positive and negative affect. METHOD: The ERQ and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-10 were administered to 252 older adults (age range 60-89 years; 48.4% female). RESULTS: The two ERQ subscales, reappraisal and suppression, were internally consistent. Reappraisal was positively correlated with positive affect among both genders, and negatively correlated with negative affect among older women only. Suppression was positively correlated with negative affect among older men only and unrelated to positive affect for both genders. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a two-factor solution fits the data from both genders. CONCLUSION: The results provide evidence to support the ERQ for use with older adults, while identifying clinically important gender differences in the associations between emotion regulation tendencies and affect in older age. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Reliability and validity of the 10-item Emotion Regulation Questionnaire is supported for use among older adults. Suppression positively correlated with negative affect among older men but not older women. Reappraisal negatively correlated with negative affect among older women but not men. The current data from a community-dwelling population may not generalize to older adults with clinical disorders.