Evaluation of psychometric properties of the Persian version of the short form of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-18)

Cognitive emotion regulation represents an essential role in managing stressful events in peoplechr('39')s lives. Some strategies are adaptive, while others are maladaptive and associated with various forms of psychopathology. This study aimed to investigate the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Persian version of the short form of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-18) among Staff of a Military University.

This was a psychometric research. The statistical population of this study was one of the military units in Tehran. Based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 310 people were selected by convenience sampling method. The instruments used included the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-18), the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-42) and the General Job Satisfaction Scale (GJSS). Structural validity was examined by performing confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficients and test-retest were used to evaluate the reliability. The data were analyzed using SPSS-25 and AMOS-22.

Confirmatory factor analysis results indicated a two-factor model of this questionnaire (RMSEA=0.03; SRMR=0.02; CFI=0.98; GFI=0.94).  The correlation scores of adaptive coping strategies with depression (-0.48), anxiety (-0.44), stress (-0.46) and job satisfaction (0.36) were significant (p <0.01) Also, the correlation of the scores of maladaptive coping strategies with depression (0.55), anxiety (0.42), stress (0.40) and job satisfaction (-0.30) was significant (p <0.01). The reliability coefficients of Cronbachchr('39')s alpha and test-retest at 4-weeks intervals for adaptive coping strategies were 0.95, 0.88 and for maladaptive coping strategies was 0.88 and 0.77, respectively, indicating satisfactory results.

According to the findings of the present study, the short form of the Iranian version of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ-18) is a suitable tool with good psychometric properties to measure cognitive coping strategies.