Emotional regulation skills: psychometric analysis in college students
Abstract
The rising incidence of psychological distress in higher education calls for the availability of precise assessment tools; however, the adaptation of comprehensive emotion regulation instruments in the context of Indonesian students remains limited. This study aims to conduct a psychometric analysis of the Indonesian version of the Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire (ERSQ) and to explore the influence of demographic factors on these skills. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 647 students in Yogyakarta via convenience sampling. Analyses were conducted using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to test construct validity, along with T-tests and One-Way ANOVAs for comparative analysis. The CFA results confirmed the nine-dimensional structure of the ERSQ with excellent model fit indicators (CFI=0.942; TLI=0.931; RMSEA=0.042) and high internal consistency (alpha=0.915). The findings indicate that the variables of semester level (p=0.021) and age range (p=0.016) have a significant effect on emotional regulation efficacy, while the variables of gender and birth order do not show significant differences. This study makes a methodological contribution in the form of a psychometrically validated instrument for mapping students’ emotional profiles. In practical terms, college counseling administrators need to design more specific interventions for students during the early transition to college and late adolescence to optimize their academic resilience.
References
Badii, I. C., Altarriba, C., Company, A. C., Pujol-farriols, R., Baños, J., Galbany-estragu, P., & Cayuela, C. (2022). Psychological distress, burnout, and academic performance in first year college students. International Journal of Environmental Research and Publich Health, 19(6), 1–13. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063356
Celik, E., & Calik, M. (2022). Examining the relationship between sensation seeking, positive and negative experiences, emotional autonomy and coping strategies in adolescents. International Journal Educational Psychology, 11(1), 68–91. https://doi.org/10.17583/ijep.6376
Cuartas, J., Hanno, E., Lesaux, N. K., & Jones, S. M. (2022). Executive function, self-regulation skills, behaviors, and socioeconomic status in early childhood. PLoS ONE, 3(10), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277013
Dawel, A., Mewton, P., Gulliver, A., Farrer, L. M., Calear, A. L., Newman, E., & Cherbuin, N. (2024). For whom and what does cognitive reappraisal help ? A prospective study. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 48, 687–703. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-023-10407-3
Fombouchet, Y., Pineau, S., Perchec, C., Lucenet, J., & Lannegrand, L. (2023). The development of emotion regulation in adolescence: What do we know and where to go next? Social Development, 32(4), 1227–1242. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12684
Hosokawa, R., Matsumoto, Y., Nishida, C., Funato, K., & Mitani, A. (2024). Enhancing social ? emotional skills in early childhood : Intervention study on the effectiveness of social and emotional learning. BMC Psychology, 12(761). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-02280-w
Ma, T. (2022). Climate change impacts on the mental health and wellbeing of young people: A scoping review of risk and protective factors. Social Science & Medicine, 301(1), 1–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114888
Martinez, N., Josu, Y., & Eizaguirre, S. (2024). The impact of family involvement on students ’ social ? emotional development : The mediational role of school engagement. In European Journal of Psychology of Education (Vol. 39, Issue 4). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00862-1
Paley, B., & Hajal, N. J. (2022). Conceptualizing emotion regulation and coregulation as family ? level phenomena. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 25(1), 19–43. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-022-00378-4
Pedrini, L., Meloni, S., Lanfredi, M., & Rossi, R. (2022). School-based interventions to improve emotional regulation skills in adolescent students: A systematic review. Journal of Adolescence, 94(8), 1051–1067. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12090
Potterton, R., Austin, A., Robinson, L., Webb, H., Allen, K. L., & Schmidt, U. (2022). Identity development and social-emotional disorders during adolescence and emerging adulthood : A systematic review and. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51, 16–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01536-7
Prajab, A. K., Setiawati, F. A., Saifuddiin, M. R., & Information, A. (2025). Psychometric analysis of self-compassion scale for. Counsenesia, 6(2). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.36728/cijgc.v6i1.5043
Schuenemann, L., Scherenberg, V., Salisch, M. Von, & Eckert, M. (2022). “ I ’ ll worry about it tomorrow ” – fostering emotion regulation skills to overcome procrastination. Frontiers in Psychology, 13(3), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.780675
Setiawati, Y., Hartopo, D., Rabitho, F. D., & Chuanardi, W. (2024). Investigating Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms , emotional dysregulation and family functioning in children : A community-based study in elementary schools in Surabaya , Indonesia. Original Article, 35(4), 250–257. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5765/jkacap.240015
Smith, R., Persich, M. R., Chuning, A. E., Cloonan, S., Woods-lubert, R., Skalamera, J., Berryhill, S. M., Weihs, K. L., Lane, R. D., Allen, J. J. B., Dailey, N. S., Alkozei, A., Vanuk, J. R., & Killgore, W. D. S. (2024). Improvements in mindfulness , interoceptive and emotional awareness , emotion regulation , and interpersonal emotion management following completion of an online emotional skills training. American Psychological Association, 24(2), 431–450. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.780675
Sonmez, Y., Akdemir, M., Meydanlioglu, A., & Aktekin, M. R. (2023). Psychological distress, depression , and anxiety in nursing students : A longitudinal study. Healthcare, 11(5), 1–11. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11050636
Stellarn, J., Xiao, K. Bin, Grennell, E., Sanches, M., Gowin, J. L., & Sloan, M. E. (2022). Emotion regulation in substance use disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Wiley Online Library, 118(1), 30–47. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/add.16001
Steptoe, A., & Frank, P. (2026). Obesity and psychological distress. Philosophical Transactions B, 4, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0225/1280272/rstb.2022.0225.pdf
Thummler, R., Engel, E., & Bartz, J. (2022). Strengthening emotional development and emotion regulation in childhood — as a key task in early childhood education. Environmental Reserach and Public Health, 19(7). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19073978
Wackerhagen, C., Reppmann, Z. C., & Walter, H. (2022). Positive cognitive reappraisal in stress resilience, mental health, and well-being : A comprehensive systematic review. Sage, 14(4), 310–331. https://doi.org/10.1177/17540739221114642
Wang, S., Wang, F., Zhu, Z., Wang, J., Tran, T., & Du, Z. (2024). Artificial intelligence in education : A systematic literature review. Expert Systems With Applications, 252(10), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2024.124167
Zhu, Y., Jha, S. C., Shutta, K. H., Huang, T., Balasubramanian, R., Clish, C. B., Hankinson, S. E., & Kubzansky, L. D. (2023). Psychological distress and metabolomic markers: a systematic review of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and subclinical distress. National Library of Medice, 143, 1–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104954.Psychological
Zimmer-gembeck, M. J., Rudolph, J., Kerin, J., & Bohadana-brown, G. (2022). Parent emotional regulation : A meta-analytic review of its association with parenting and child adjustment. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 46(1), 63–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254211051086
Copyright (c) 2026 Anita Dewi Astuti, Sunawan Sunawan, Ashari Mahfud

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.



