The psychometric properties of the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (CERQ) in a clinical sample of adults with recurrent depression

The mediating role of social connectedness and negative cognitive emotion regulation in the association between problematic Internet use and depression among adolescents

Introduction

While the relationship between adolescent problematic Internet use (PIU) and depression has been extensively researched, few studies have investigated the role and mechanisms of social connectedness (SC) in this context. This study aimed to investigate the mediating effect of social connectedness (SC) and cognitive emotion regulation (CER) in the relationship between PIU and depression.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 9,407 adolescents aged 12-18 years in China from September 2022 to March 2023. We employed Young's 20-item Internet Addiction Test (IAT-20), the Social Connectedness Scale-Revised (SCS-R), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale (CER), and the DSM-5 Level-2 Depression Scale to assess mental health outcomes. Logistic regression analysis was also performed to examine the independent association between the measured variables and depression. Mediation analysis was then conducted to evaluate the mediating roles of social connectedness and cognitive emotion regulation in the relationship between PIU and depression.

Results

We found that the prevalence of PIU was 21.8%. Offline SC (indirect effect: 0.112, 95% CI: 0.104-0.121) and negative CER (indirect effect: 00.140, 95% CI: 0.129-0.152) mainly played a parallel mediating role in the relationship between PIU and depression, along with online SC (on_SC) (indirect effect: 0.007, 95% CI: 0.005-0.010).

Discussion

These findings provide valuable insights into how PIU is associated with depression and highlight the importance of fostering real-life interpersonal interactions. However, the generalizability of this study's findings to other populations may be limited due to cultural factors.

Validation of the short version of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for adolescents in Norway

BACKGROUND/AIM

The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) is among the most popular and widely used measures of emotion regulation across age groups. This study aimed to validate the CERQ short version (CERQ-short) for use on adolescents in the Norwegian population.

METHOD

A sample of 3461 adolescents (47.3% girls) aged 12-16 years was recruited through the UEVO population-based study of child maltreatment in Norway. Factor structure, reliability, measurement invariance and criterion validity were investigated.

RESULTS

Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original nine-factor model including 18 items; however, not a two-factor structure nor a higher order two-factor solution. Internal consistency was adequate for all subscales, with alpha levels ranging from .73 to .84 between subscales across genders. Relationships with internalizing problems measured with the 10-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist and health-related quality of life according to KIDSCREEN-10 supported the criterion-related validity of the Norwegian CERQ-short.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that the CERQ-short can be used to measure cognitive emotion regulation strategies in the Norwegian adolescent population. The validation of the CERQ-short in Norway could significantly improve mental health care by facilitating better diagnosis, treatment planning, and evaluation, as well as informing public health policy and cross-cultural research.

Factors associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a clinical sample of youth with misophonia

Misophonia is an often chronic condition characterized by strong, unpleasant emotional reactions when exposed to specific auditory or visual triggers. While not currently defined within existing classification systems, and not clearly fitting within the framework of extant psychiatric conditions, misophonia has historically been studied most frequently within the context of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. Internalizing and externalizing psychiatric symptoms are common in misophonia, but specific factors that confer risk for these symptoms remain unknown. The present cross-sectional study examined whether sensory sensitivity and cognitive emotion regulation facets are associated with co-occurring internalizing and externalizing symptoms in 102 youth with misophonia aged 8-17 years (Nfemales = 69). Participants completed self-report assessments of misophonia severity, sensory sensitivity, cognitive emotion regulation, and emotional-behavioral functioning. In the final model, controlling for all variables, multiple linear regression analyses revealed that sensory sensitivity and age were significant predictors of internalizing symptoms, while sensory sensitivity and the other-blame cognitive emotion regulation facet were significant predictors of externalizing symptoms. Further, findings demonstrated that the positive reappraisal cognitive emotion regulation facet moderated the effect of misophonia severity on internalizing symptoms. Results highlight a strong, consistent relation between sensory sensitivities (beyond sound sensitivity) and psychiatric symptoms in misophonic youth. Further research is necessary to determine mechanisms and clinical variables impacting internalizing and externalizing symptoms within youth with misophonia.

Validación del Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) en una muestra mexicana

El presente trabajo es la validación en una muestra mexicana de una escala que mide la regulación emocional cognitiva. El objetivo fue evaluar la validez del Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) y examinar su validez divergente, a partir de instrumentos previamente validados. La muestra se formó de 464 jóvenes mexicanos (332 mujeres y 132 hombres), con edad entre 18 y 33 años. El 98.2% eran solteros. El diseño fue instrumental, transversal y no experimental. Además del CERQ, se usaron instrumentos de medición del enojo (ML-STAXI), miedo (IESM), depresión (IDB) y ansiedad (IAB). Las respuestas se recabaron con la plataforma SurveyMonkey. Como resultado, el modelo original de nueve factores del CERQ mostró pobre ajuste en el análisis factorial confirmatorio (CFI = .853). Por medio de análisis factorial exploratorio, se encontraron siete factores válidos: Reenfocarse en los planes positivamente (8 reactivos, α = .86), Rumiación (5 reactivos, α = .78), Culpar a otros (4 reactivos, α = .77), Auto culpa (3 reactivos, α = .76), Catastrofizar (4 reactivos, α = .77), Poner en perspectiva (4 reactivos, α = .70) y Reenfocarse en lo positivo (3 reactivos, α = .72). El CERQ, cuya naturaleza es cognitiva, mostró divergencia con variables emocionales y conductuales de instrumentos previos. En conclusión, los factores encontrados del CERQ representan constructos válidos y confiables que tienen potencial para programas que busquen atender y fortalecer la regulación emocional.

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

The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) is an assessment tool to evaluate cognitive emotion regulation strategies. The main objective of this study is to provide new empirical evidence about the validity and reliability of the CERQ via a sample of 271 Spanish adolescents (136 female, 135 male) aged from 15 to 18 years (M = 15.7, SD = 0.76). The analytical process was carried out in two phases. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the polychoric correlation matrix between items. Four possible alternative models were contrasted: two models with nine factors and two models with two second-order factors and nine first-order factors, with 36 and 27 items, respectively. The model with nine correlated factors and 27 items obtained the best indices of overall fit. Subsequently, the reliability of the measurements was estimated on this model. The results reaffirm the validity of the 27-item version of the CERQ over the original 36-item structure. The findings also confirm that the CERQ is a reliable instrument for the evaluation of emotion regulation strategies in adolescents.

Childhood trauma and current depression among Chinese university students: a moderated mediation model of cognitive emotion regulation strategies and neuroticism

BACKGROUND

Childhood trauma (CT) is considered as a highly risk factor for depression. Although the pathway of CT to depression, especially the mediating or moderating effects of cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) or neuroticism, have investigated by several studies, the results were inconsistent and there is a paucity of full models among these interactive factors. This study aims to examine the relationships among CT, adaptive / maladaptive CERS, neuroticism, and current depression symptoms in university students.

METHODS

We recruited 3009 freshman of 2019, aged averagely 18.00 (SD = 0.772) years, from universities in Hunan province in 2019. A moderated mediation model was built to examine the relationships among CT, CERS, neuroticism, and current depression using the SPSS PROCESS 3.5 macro. We conducted bootstrapping of regression estimates with 5000 samples and 95% confidence interval.

RESULTS

Results revealed that the significant mediating effects of adaptive CERS (β = 0.012; 95% CI: 0.006 to 0.018) and maladaptive CERS (β = 0.028; 95% CI: 0.016 to 0.040) between CT and depression were observed, accounting for 5.69% and 13.52% of the total effect respectively. Then, moderated mediation analyses results showed that neuroticism simultaneously moderated the direct effect of CT on current depression (β = 0.035; 95% CI: 0.001 to 0.009), and the indirect effects of CT on current depression through adaptive CERS (adaptive CERS - current depression: β = - 0.034; 95% CI: - 0.007 to - 0.001) and maladaptive CERS (maladaptive CERS - current depression: β = 0.157; 95% CI: 0.017 to 0.025). However, the moderating effects of neuroticism in the indirect paths from CT to adaptive CERS (β = 0.037; 95% CI: 0.000 to 0.014) and maladaptive CERS (β = - 0.001; 95% CI: - 0.006 to 0.005) were not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides powerful evidences through a large university students sample for the mediating role of adaptive / maladaptive CERS and the moderating role of neuroticism between CT and current depression. This manifests that cognitive emotion regulation may be a vital factor for people who suffered from CT and current depression. Furthermore, the influence of neuroticism in this process cannot be ignored.

Psychopathological states among Congolese health workers during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic: links with emotion regulation and social support

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented stressor for frontline healthcare workers, notably increasing acute stress disorder and depression rates. Emotion regulation and social support could be major protective factors against such psychopathological states, but their role has not been explored outside Western contexts. Objective: To assess the association between emotion regulation, social support, acute stress disorder, and depression among healthcare workers directly confronted with the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Method: A cross-sectional study assessed acute stress disorder, depression, adaptive (i.e. acceptance, positive refocusing, …) and maladaptive (i.e. self-blame, rumination, catastrophizing, …) emotion regulation strategies, social support (instrumental, emotional, and informational levels), as well as self-reported situations and feelings related to COVID-19, in a population of 252 frontline healthcare workers (121 women; 131 men; mean age: 39 ± 11 years old) at the Referral General Hospital of Bukavu. We also explored the relations between these variables through bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results: Forty percent of participants presented symptoms of depression, and 16% presented acute stress disorder. In bivariate logistic regression, these psychiatric outcomes were associated with the availability of a COVID-19 protection kit [OR = 0.24 (0.12-0.98)], hostility toward health workers [OR = 3.21 (1.23-4.21)], putting into perspective [OR = 0.91 (0.43-0.98)], self-blame [OR = 1.44 (1.11-2.39)], catastrophizing [OR = 1.85 (1.01-4.28)], blaming others [OR = 1.77 (1.04-3.32)], emotional support [OR = 0.83 (0.49-0.98)], instrumental support [OR = 0.74 (0.28-0.94)], and informational support [OR = 0.73 (0.43-0.98)]. In multivariate logistic regression, hostility [OR = 2.21 (1.54-3.78)], self-blame [OR = 1.57 (1.02-2.11)], rumination [OR = 1.49 (1.11-3.13)] and emotional support [OR = 0.94 (0.65-0.98)] remained significantly associated with psychiatric outcomes. Conclusion: Depression and acute stress disorder were highly prevalent among Congolese healthcare workers during the first wave of the COVID-19 health pandemic. Hostility, self-blame, rumination, and social support were associated with depression and/or acute stress disorder and should be targeted by interventions aiming to support health workers' wellbeing.

HIGHLIGHTS

Frontline health workers presented high prevalence of acute stress disorder (16%) and depression (40%) during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, as they were working in hostile environment without enough protection kits.Acute stress disorder and depression were negatively associated with adaptive emotion regulation and social support; and positively with maladaptive emotion regulation.Intervention aiming to support health workers in pandemics should target emotion regulation and social support.

The Influence of L2 Proficiency on Bilinguals' Creativity: The Key Role of Adaptive Emotion Regulation Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought severe impact on language learners' emotional states and their performance in creativity. Yet, their ability to regulate emotions is crucial for everyday functioning during times of crisis. The question of how adaptive emotion regulation (ER) strategies, which help an individual maintain appropriate and stable mood states, might affect bilinguals' creativity remains unexplored. The present study investigated this issue by measuring various indicators of the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, L2 proficiency, adaptive ER strategies, and bilinguals' cognitive creativity (CC) and emotional creativity (EC) during the pandemic. Results from a sample of 235 bilingual participants who completed a battery of survey instruments showed that: (1) bilinguals' negative mood significantly increased during the pandemic compared with their mood state before the pandemic; (2) their negative mood during the pandemic was positively associated with their adaptive ER strategies; (3) L2 proficiency had a direct effect on bilinguals' cognitive flexibility, CC, and EC; (4) L2 proficiency also indirectly influenced bilinguals' CC through cognitive flexibility. These results suggest that cognitive flexibility had a simple mediation effect on the association between L2 proficiency and CC. However, the current study further found that bilinguals had different cognitive patterns in EC. L2 proficiency influenced bilinguals' EC through cognitive flexibility indirectly only when adaptive ER strategies had a moderation effect on the association between cognitive flexibility and EC. However, this moderated mediation effect was not significant in CC. The current study implies that bilinguals' adaptive ER strategies played a distinct role in bilinguals' EC during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Psychometric Properties and Measurement Invariance of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire in Chinese Adolescents With and Without Major Depressive Disorder: A Horizontal and Longitudinal Perspective

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties and posited nine-factor structure of the Chinese version of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-C) in high school students and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD), including assessment of measurement invariance of CERQ-C and its subscales across gender, time, and presence of depression. Methods: Chinese high school students from Hunan Province (N = 1,253) and adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) from the Medical Psychological Institute outpatient clinic at The Second Xiangya Hospital (N = 205) were enrolled. We examined the reliability, and model fit of the CERQ-C. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test measurement invariance of the subscales across gender, time, and presence of depression. Results: The CERQ-C subscales showed good internal consistency and moderate test-retest reliability in high school students and excellent internal consistency in adolescents with MDD group. The nine-factor model yielded adequate fit indices in different samples. Multigroup CFA confirmed that CERQ-C is strongly equivalent across gender, time, and presence of depression. Conclusions: The CERQ-C is a valid, reliable, and stable instrument for the evaluation of the cognitive emotion regulation (ER) strategies for different samples, including high school students and adolescents with MDD. The horizontal and longitudinal equivalences are strongly established.