Romanian Adaptation and Psychometric Validation of the Behavioral Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (BERQ-RO)

Abstract The aim of the present study was to adapt the Behavioral Emotion Regulation Questionnaire to the Romanian population and assess its psychometric proprieties. Participants included 399 adults, aged between 18 and 67 years old ( M = 25.30, SD = 9.20; 83% females). Related to reliability and construct validity, results showed good indices. Additionally, results replicated the original five-factor structure, including seeking distraction, withdrawal, actively approaching, seeking social support and ignoring. These subscales showed good criterion validity, having significant associations with cognitive emotion regulation strategies, stress, anxiety and depression, and positive and negative affectivity. Furthermore, in terms of predictive validity, seeking distraction and actively approaching negatively predicted six months later symptoms of depression, withdrawal positively predicted six months later symptoms of depression and anxiety, while actively approaching negatively predicted six months later stress. These findings highlight that the Romanian version of the BERQ could be a helpful tool to assess emotion regulation strategies among adults.