The Process-oriented Emotion Regulation Measure for Children and Adolescents (POEM-CA)

• In Event: Emotion regulation in children and adolescents

Abstract

The use of appropriate emotion regulation (ER) strategies is a central developmental task in childhood and adolescence, which is significantly associated with psychosocial adjustment and well-being. Therefore, a reliable and valid assessment of ER in this age group is important. The newly developed Process-oriented Emotion Regulation Measure for Children and Adolescents (POEM-CA) includes 58 items answered on a 4-point Likert scale. In line with the Process Model of Emotion Regulation (Gross, 1998) it assesses functional and dysfunctional ER strategies according to their temporal position within the emotion-generative process: (1) situation selection, (2) situation modification, (3) attentional deployment, (4) cognitive change, and (5) response modulation (five primary subscales each for functional and dysfunctional ER). Furthermore, two secondary scales for functional and dysfunctional ER can be derived from the primary subscales. To examine the psychometric properties and validity of the POEM-CA, data from N = 2330 children and adolescents aged 9 to 18 years (M = 12.81, SD = 1.71; 55% female) were analyzed. Confirmatory factor analyses showed acceptable fit indices for the two measurement models for functional, χ2(367) = 1277.28, CFI = .95, RMSEA = .03, and dysfunctional ER, χ2(362) = 1729.78, CFI = .92, RMSEA = .04. The two secondary scales showed excellent internal consistencies (α) and four-week test-retest reliabilities (rtt) in this study (functional ER α = .92, rtt = .86; dysfunctional ER α = .91, rtt = .84). Furthermore, internal consistencies and four-week test-retest reliabilities of the five functional (.71 ≤ α ≤ .83; .71 ≤ rtt ≤ .79) and five dysfunctional primary subscales (.68 ≤ α ≤ .80; .70 ≤ rtt ≤ .80) were satisfactory. To examine convergent validity, partial correlations (controlling for age and gender) of the POEM-CA subscales with reappraisal and suppression (measured with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents, ERQ-CA; Gullone & Taffe, 2012) were calculated. As expected, more functional ER was significantly associated with more reappraisal and less suppression. In contrast, dysfunctional ER was negatively related to reappraisal and showed significant positive associations with suppression (Table 1). Criterion-related validity was tested by analyzing associations with problem behavior (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, SDQ; Goodman, 1997), and well-being (KIDSCREEN-10; The KIDSCREEN Group Europe, 2006), again controlling for age and gender. Moderate to high significant correlations were found in the expected direction (Table 1): Functional ER showed negative associations with internalizing and externalizing problems and was positively related to well-being. Conversely, more dysfunctional ER was associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems, and lower well-being. Overall, the POEM-CA is a promising measurement tool for assessing ER in childhood and adolescence. It is currently available in German and a translation into English as well as the corresponding evaluation are in progress. A more precise assessment of ER, as implemented in the POEM-CA, can not only advance research in this field, but can also be helpful in planning and evaluating prevention and intervention programs.

Authors

• Jana-Elisa Rueth, Bielefeld University
  Presenting Author

• Arnold Lohaus, Bielefeld University