Psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the emotion regulation questionnaire in Chinese left-behind children

Left-behind children (LBC) is a group of children who live without their parents and receive less parental care and education. Compared with non-left-behind children (NLBC), LBC are more likely to develop emotional or behavior problems. This study aimed to explore the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the Chinese version of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) in Chinese LBC. A sample of 2960 middle school students (44.35% male, 55.28% female; age: 12 to 20 years) including LBC (n = 1365) and NLBC (n = 1595) was used. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA); confirmatory factor analyses (CFA); tests of measurement invariance; t-tests of gender and left-behind experience differences; tests of reliability and convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity were conducted. The results showed that two factors were extracted, and the CFA replicated the original two-factor structure (S-B chi(2)/df approximate to 106.778/34, P < .001, CFI = .948, TLI = .932, RMSEA = .056 [.044, .068]). The measurement invariance of the ERQ across genders, LBC and NLBC was also confirmed. Males use expressive suppression (ES) significantly more than females (t = 2.63, p < .01), and LBC use ES significantly more than NLBC (t = 2.11, p < .05). The internal consistency coefficients for ES and cognitive reappraisal (CR) were acceptable, and the test-retest reliability was .62 and .68, respectively. Good convergent, discriminant and criterion validity were also demonstrated. It can be concluded that the ERQ is a valid measure for investigating the use of two different emotion regulation strategies among Chinese left-behind children.