. 2022 Dec 22;22(1):820.

doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-04440-x.

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

Michaela Junghänel^#¹, Hildegard Wand^#¹, Christina Dose¹, Ann-Kathrin Thöne¹, Anne-Katrin Treier¹, Charlotte Hanisch², Anne Ritschel², Michael Kölch^{3

4

5}, Lena Lincke⁴, Veit Roessner⁶, Gregor Kohls⁶, Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer⁷, Anne Kaman⁷, Tobias Banaschewski⁸, Pascal-M Aggensteiner⁸, Anja Görtz-Dorten^{1

9}, Manfred Döpfner^{10

11}; ADOPT Consortium

Collaborators, Affiliations

Affiliations

¹ School of Child and Adolescent Cognitive Behavior Therapy (AKiP), Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Pohligstraße 9, 50969, Cologne, Germany.
² Department of Special Education, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Neurology, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
⁵ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Ruppin-Brandenburg, Neuruppin, Germany.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
⁷ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Research Unit Child Public Health, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
⁸ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.
⁹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
¹⁰ School of Child and Adolescent Cognitive Behavior Therapy (AKiP), Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Pohligstraße 9, 50969, Cologne, Germany. Manfred.doepfner@uk-koeln.de.
¹¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Manfred.doepfner@uk-koeln.de.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 36550484
PMCID: PMC9773459
DOI: 10.1186/s12888-022-04440-x

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

Michaela Junghänel et al. BMC Psychiatry. 2022.

. 2022 Dec 22;22(1):820.

doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-04440-x.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Child and Adolescent Cognitive Behavior Therapy (AKiP), Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Pohligstraße 9, 50969, Cologne, Germany.
² Department of Special Education, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Neurology, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
⁵ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Ruppin-Brandenburg, Neuruppin, Germany.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
⁷ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Research Unit Child Public Health, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
⁸ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany.
⁹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
¹⁰ School of Child and Adolescent Cognitive Behavior Therapy (AKiP), Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Pohligstraße 9, 50969, Cologne, Germany. Manfred.doepfner@uk-koeln.de.
¹¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. Manfred.doepfner@uk-koeln.de.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 36550484
PMCID: PMC9773459
DOI: 10.1186/s12888-022-04440-x

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.

Keywords: Adolescents; Affective dysregulation; Assessment; Children; Emotion regulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Tobias Banaschewski served in an advisory or consultancy role for ADHS digital, Infectopharm, Lundbeck, Medice, Neurim Pharmaceuticals, Oberberg GmbH, Roche, and Takeda. He received conference support or speaker’s fees from Medice and Takeda. He received royalities from Hogrefe, Kohlhammer, CIP Medien, Oxford University Press; the present work is unrelated to these relationships. Daniel Brandeis served as an unpaid scientific advisor for an EU-funded neurofeedback trial unrelated to the present work. Manfred Döpfner receives royalties from publishing companies as an author of books and treatment manuals on child behavioral therapy and of assessment manuals published by Beltz, Elsevier, Enke, Guilford, Hogrefe, Huber, Kohlhammer, Schattauer, Springer, and Wiley. He receives income as a consultant for Child Behavior Therapy at the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. He also receives consulting income and research support from Lilly, Medice, Takeda, and eyelevel GmbH. Jörg Fegert received research funding from EU, BMG (Federal Ministry of Health), BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research), BMFSFJ (Federal Ministry of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth), DFG (German Research Foundation), G-BA Innovation Fund, State Ministries of Baden-Württemberg and Saarland, State Foundation Baden-Württemberg, Porticus Foundation, Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg. He received travel grants, honoraria, sponsorship for conferences and medical educational purposes from APK, Adenauer- and Ebertstiftung, Deutschlandfunk, DFG, DJI, DKSB, Infectopharm, med update, UNICEF, professional associations, universities and federal and state ministries. He is a consultant for APK, federal and state ministries. He has no industry-sponsored lecture series, no shareholdings, no participation in pharmaceutical companies. Anja Görtz-Dorten receives royalties from publishing companies as an author of books and treatment manuals on child behavioral therapy and assessment manuals, including the treatment manuals evaluated in this trial. She receives income as a consultant for Child Behavior Therapy at the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. She also receives consulting income and research support from Medice and eyelevel GmbH. Charlotte Hanisch receives royalties from a publishing company as the author of a treatment manual. Martin Hellmich receives consulting income from eyelevel GmbH. Josepha Katzmann receives royalties from a publishing company as author of two self-help books on child behavioral therapy. Michael Kölch receives royalties from publishing companies as an author of books. He served as PI or CI in clinical trials of Lundbeck, Pascoe and Janssen-Cilag. He served as scientific advisor for Janssen. The present work is unrelated to the above grants and relationships. Veit Roessner has received lecture honoraria from Infectopharm and Medice companies. He has carried out clinical trials in cooperation with Servier and Shire Pharmaceuticals/Takeda companies. The present work is unrelated to the above grants and relationships. All other authors have no competing interest to declare.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Final Four-Factor Structure of the FRUST. Correlated factors model with three functional factors (distraction, problem-solving, social support) and one dysfunctional factor after the exclusion of items 25 and 26 (due to low factor loadings). Item numbers are displayed in the boxes and residuals are not shown for clarity of presentation

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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

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

Authors

Collaborators

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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References

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MeSH terms

Grants and funding

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