The Emotion Regulation Checklist - Factor Form Invariance and Acquiescence in Norway

Abstract

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the Norwegian version of the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC; Shields & Cicchetti, 1997). Parent and teacher responses were collected from a community sample of Norwegian children at four timepoints (n= 605-783). Main analyses were confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis, as well as an indicator of acquiescence response style. The results indicated that the latent structure of the Norwegian version of the ERC differed from the two-factor structure suggested by the original authors. Post-hoc analysis failed to identify meaningful model-alterations, and explorative analysis did not succeed to reveal alternative solutions with acceptable fit and interpretability. In addition, both scales in the original two-factor solution seemed to be contaminated by parents’ acquiescence. As so, the validity of the Norwegian version of the ERC was not supported, and its use in Norway should be carefully considered due to interpretation difficulties and validity issues.