Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire

Interpersonal emotion regulation is defined as how a person depends on others to regulate their own emotions (Hofmann et al., Cognitive Therapy and Research 40:341–356, 2016). The Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ: Hofmann et al., Cognitive Therapy and Research 40:341–356, 2016) assesses emotion regulation in interpersonal relationships using a four-factor, 20-item structure. The dimensions of IERQ are enhancing positive affect, perspective-taking, soothing, and social modeling. Given that IERQ has not been validated in non-Western cultural contexts, the current study examined the factor structure of the Tamil version of the IERQ (IERQ-T) in a sample of married couples in India. The participants include 680 married couples in the age range of 26–58. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the four-factor structure fit the data well (χ2 (146) = 473.10; CFI = 0.933; RMSEA = 0.058; SRMR = 0.048). Furthermore, the multi-group analysis indicated that the factor structure and item loadings were invariant across the dyad (husbands and wives). The IERQ-T showed satisfactory convergent validity with dyadic coping and dyadic adjustment. The alpha coefficient was found to be 0.91. We conclude that the IERQ-T is good for use in the Indian cultural context.