Interpersonal emotion regulation questionnaire: psychometric properties of the Italian version and associations with psychopathology

Abstract

The emerging field of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) is drawing attention to forms of emotion regulation which involve communication and social interaction as part of the regulation process. The availability of instruments to measure IER in different languages represents significant promise for future work in this field. The goal of the present study was to validate an Italian adaptation of a self-report instrument for the assessment of IER, the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ; Hofmann et al., 2016). In an Italian sample (N=448), exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the original structure comprising four factors (Enhancing Positive Affect, Perspective Taking, Soothing and Social Modelling). Correlations with other measures of emotion regulation showed good convergent validity of the questionnaire.

Attachment orientations and emotion regulation: new insights from the study of interpersonal emotion regulation strategies

“…Subsequent contributions, instead, have observed negative consequences of IER in perpetuating psychopathological symptoms, such as exaggerated dependency on others to regulate one’s own emotions (Hoffman, 2014). Moreover, previous studies have observed that interpersonal emotion regulation is associated with self-reported psychopathology (Messina et al ., 2022a ; Messina et al ., 2022b ; Dixon-Gordon et al ., 2018 ; Messina et al ., 2023a ). The results of the present study, and more generally the consideration of the attachment theory perspective, conciliate these views affirming that both exaggerate dependency on others to regulate emotions and the pseudo-autonomy of avoidant individuals may lead to emotional disorders.…”

“…The IERQ (Hofmann et al ., 2016 ; Italian version: Messina et al ., 2022b ) consists of 20 items that describe examples of interpersonal emotion regulation strategies, and participants are asked to rate how much the item is true for them on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (“ not true for me at all ”) to 5 (“ extremely true for me ”). It allows the assessment of 4 subscales: Enhancing Positive Affect, which describes a tendency to share emotions with others to increase feelings of happiness and joy ( e.g.…”

“…Each item of the questionnaire describes examples of the listed IER strategies, and participants are asked to rate how much the item is true for them on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (“ not true for me at all ”) to 5 (“ extremely true for me ”). The Italian version of the questionnaire showed good psychometric properties, with high Cronbach alpha coefficients for all subscales (α’s between .78 and .85) (Messina et al ., 2022b ).…”

“…, “ Keep asking for reassurance ”). Good internal consistencies have been reported for all subscales of the Italian version of the questionnaire (Venting: α=.76, Reassurance-seeking: α=.87, Avoidance: α=.72, Acceptance: α=.71) (Messina et al ., 2022b ).…”

A Spanish adaptation and validation of the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire

“…For this purpose, Hofmann et al [14] have designed the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ), one of the first scales to evaluate IER to date. Other researches have proposed alternative measures for this variable [16] , but that of Hoffmann et al [14] has been extensively validated in other languages [23][24][25][26][27] , although not in Spanish to date. Therefore, the main aim of the present study is the translation and validation of the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ) into Spanish, to be used with the Spanish population.…”