Psychometric Evaluation of the Affect Regulation Checklist: Parent- and Youth Self-Reports and Associations with Psychopathology.

• In Event: Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Affect regulation, or rather dyscontrol, confers a transdiagnostic risk factor for the development of both externalizing and internalizing psychopathology. Thus, there is a need for reliable and valid measures of affect regulation. However, there is ongoing debate with regards to the underlying components of affect regulation, and many current measures assess behavioral outcomes rather than emotional processes. To address this gap, the 12-item Affect Regulation Checklist (ARC; Moretti, 2003) was designed to capture affect dyscontrol, suppression, and reflection—three core components of affective, rather than behavioral, regulation. The ARC is an informant and self-report measure adapted from established scales of emotion regulation (Gross & John, 2003) assessing regulatory characteristics independent of specific emotions. In addition, it is also currently unclear whether each ARC dimension underpins specific symptoms of externalizing (i.e., attention-deficit hyperactivity [ADHD], oppositional defiant [ODD], conduct [CD] disorders) and internalizing (i.e., separation anxiety [SAD], generalized anxiety [GAD], major depressive [MDD] disorders) psychopathology. The present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of both parent- and self-reports of the ARC among a sample of high-risk youth. Participants included parents (n = 814; 86.1% biological; 74.1% mothers; Mage = 43.86, SD = 8.13) and their child (n = 608; 56.6% female; Mage = 13.98, SD = 2.36). To examine factor structure, we conducted exploratory factor analyses. We report Cronbach’s alpha of established scales. Finally, externalizing and internalizing subscales (as assessed by the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview; Cunningham et al., 2000) were regressed onto each ARC subscale to assess construct validity.Fit indices from factors analyses indicated an optimal three-factor solution for both parent- (χ2(33) = 104.72, p <.001, CFI = .98, AIC = 25702.26, RMSEA = .05, 90% CI [.04, .07]) and youth self-report (χ2(33) = 79.61, p <.001, CFI = .98, AIC = 21362.60, RMSEA = .05, 90% CI [.04, .06]) representing dyscontrol (α = .84, .87, respectively), suppression (α = .73, .68), and reflection (α = .84, .80). Whereas item 11 ‘thinking about my feelings just makes everything worse’ loaded onto the suppression factor for parent-report, this item loaded onto the dyscontrol factor for youth-report. For parent-report, dyscontrol and suppression were significantly and positively associated with all externalizing and internalizing subscales, and reflection was positively associated with SAD and GAD and negatively associated with ADHD, ODD, CD, and MDD (see Table 1). For youth-report, dyscontrol and suppression were significantly and positively associated with all externalizing and internalizing subscales, and reflection was positively associated with internalizing subscales (see Table 2). These analyses controlled for youth age and gender. Factor analytic findings support the utility of the ARC in differentiating three components (i.e., dyscontrol, suppression, and reflection) of affect regulation strategies from both the perspective of the parent and child. ARC dimensions were associated with multiple indicators of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology, suggesting that not only affect dyscontrol but other emotional components may reflect transdiagnostic risk for psychopathology (i.e., suppression). We also found informant discrepancies between reflection and psychopathology. Clinical implications will be discussed.

Group Authors

Adolescent Health Lab University Student Research Award Group (in alphabetical order): Sherene Balanji, Stephanie G. Craig, Brooke Davis, Natalie Goulter, Tim James, Cassia L. McIntyre, Marlene M. Moretti, Erica Smith, Emily M. Thornton

Authors

• Sherene Balanji, Simon Fraser University
  Presenting Author

• Brooke A. Davis, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Timothy P. James, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author

• AHL USRA Group*, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Natalie Goulter, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marlene M. Moretti, Simon Fraser University
  Non-Presenting Author