Validation of a new emotion regulation self-report questionnaire for children

Abstract

Objective To examine and validate the self-report Questionnaire on the Regulation of Unpleasant Moods in Children (FRUST), which is a modified and shortened version of the Questionnaire for the Assessment of Emotion Regulation in Children and Adolescents (FEEL-KJ). Methods The data comprised child and parent ratings of a community-screened sample with differing levels of affective dysregulation (AD) (N = 391, age: M = 10.64, SD = 1.33, 56% male). We conducted latent factor analyses to establish a factor structure. Subsequently, we assessed measurement invariance (MI) regarding age, gender, and AD level and evaluated the internal consistencies of the scales. Finally, we examined the convergent and divergent validity of the instrument by calculating differential correlations between the emotion regulation strategy (ERS) scales and self- and parent-report measures of psychopathology. Results A four-factor model, with one factor representing Dysfunctional Strategies and the three factors Distraction, Problem-Solving and Social Support representing functional strategies provided the best fit to our data and was straightforward to interpret. We found strong MI for age and gender and weak MI for AD level. Differential correlations with child and parent ratings of measures of psychopathology supported the construct validity of the factors. Conclusions We established a reliable and valid self-report measure for the assessment of ERS in children. Due to the reduced number of items and the inclusion of highly specific regulatory behaviors, the FRUST might be a valuable contribution to the assessment of ER strategies for diagnostic, therapeutic, and research purposes.

The Short Version of the Process-Oriented Emotion Regulation Measure for Children and Adolescents (POEM-CA)

“…Compared to the FEEL-KJ (Grob & Smolenski, 2009), which comprises 90 items, the internal consistencies of the POEM-CA short version are also only slightly lower, while using about onethird of the number of items. Similar internal consistencies are reached by other questionnaires with a similar (BAER-C; Lippert et al, 2023) or slightly higher (FRUST; Junghänel et al, 2022) number of items. Thus, the short version of the POEM-CA can be considered an economical measure with high accuracy.…”

“…In contrast, the Questionnaire for the Measurement of ER in Children and Adolescents (FEEL-KJ; Grob & Smolenski, 2009) comprises various functional and dysfunctional strategies but is quite long (90 items). The questionnaire's length was addressed by a recently developed short version of the FEEL-KJ, which is the 48-item Questionnaire on the Regulation of Unpleasant Moods in Children (FRUST; Junghänel et al, 2022). However, it must be noted that all the abovementioned questionnaires were neither developed in a theory-based manner nor do they reflect all phases of the process model of ER (Gross, 1998(Gross, , 2014.…”

Assessment of affective dysregulation in children: development and evaluation of a semi-structured interview for parents and for children

“…Emotion regulation. The Questionnaire for the Regulation of Frustration in Children was used to assess emotion regulation strategies (FRUST; [ 34 , 35 ]). The questionnaire comprises the two subscales adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and is rated by parent (adaptive strategies: 10 items, maladaptive strategies: 4 items) and child (adaptive strategies: 33 items, maladaptive strategies: 7 items).…”

Screening for affective dysregulation in school-aged children: relationship with comprehensive measures of affective dysregulation and related mental disorders

“…We assessed emotion regulation strategies using the Questionnaire for the Regulation of Frustration in children (FRUST; [13], Junghänel [19]). The FRUST comprises the subscales adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in the parent (adaptive: 10 items, maladaptive: 4 items) and child rating (adaptive: 33 items, maladaptive: 7 items).…”