Psychometric Properties Of The German Version Of The Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire

Emotion regulation processes have gained increasing importance in psychological science. While a number of questionnaires have been developed to measure intrapersonal emotion regulation, there is a scarcity of measures assessing interpersonal emotion regulation. Therefore, we developed a German version of the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) by Hofmann, Carpenter, and Curtiss (2006) and examined the psychometric properties based on two samples including N = 206 and N = 729 participants. The factor analytic structure confirmed the four factors of the original IERQ. Cronbach's alpha values for the four subscales ranged between .81 and .91, and the test-retest reliability ranged between .72 and .74. Regarding validity, the relationship with intrapersonal emotion regulation measures showed results that were comparable to the original version. Compared with other constructs, such as depression, correlations differed from the English version. However, additional analyses provided support for the convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument. Therefore, we conclude that the German version of the IERQ is also a reliable and valid instrument to assess interpersonal emotion regulation.