Derek Roger

The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring emotion control

Abstract In an earlier study, Roger and Nesshoever (Person. individ. Diff. 8, 527–534, 1987) reported the construction and validation of a scale for measuring emotion control entitled the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ). Factor analysis revealed a 4-factor structure comprising Rehearsal, Emotional Inhibition, Aggression Control and Benign Control, which was replicated on an independent sample of subjects. The earlier study also presented the relationships between the ECQ factors and a variety of other personality scales. Subsequent work has shown that one of the ECQ factors in particular (Rehearsal) is significantly related to both heart-rate recovery and urinary cortisol elevations following stress. However, one of the disadvantages of the ECQ was the brevity of the factors, two of which (Emotional Inhibition and Benign Control) comprised just nine items each, and the present study was aimed at extending the range of behaviour sampled by the scale. Factor analyses of an expanded item pool confirmed the structure of the earlier scale and resulted in a new scale comprising 56 items, fourteen in each of the four factors. Other findings for the new scale (ECQ2) indicate that it is psychometrically equivalent to the original, and further data on the concurrent validation of the emotion control construct are presented.

Detachment and coping: The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies

Abstract The present study describes the construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies entitled the Coping Styles Questionnaire (CSQ). Earlier studies had suggested that there were three primary coping components: task, emotion, and avoidance. In part, the validation of the CSQ confirmed these results, extracting factors concerned with problem-solving (Rational Coping, RATCOP), emotion (Emotional Coping, EMCOP) and avoidance (Avoidance Coping, AVCOP). However, a new factor was uncovered which tapped distancing or detachment (Detached Coping, DETCOP). Subsequent analyses suggested a grouping of two adaptive (RATCOP and DETCOP) and two maladaptive (EMCOP and AVCOP) coping styles, which was confirmed by the concurrent validation of the scale using the Emotional Control Questionnaire.

Coping with uncertainty: the construction and validation of a new measure

The present study describes the construction and validation of a new scale for measuring styles of coping with uncertainty, entitled the Uncertainty Response Scale (URS). Principal-axis factoring of an initial item pool generated by a scenario study yielded three factors labelled emotional uncertainty, desire for change and cognitive uncertainty, all of which showed high internal (coefficient alpha) and re-test reliabilities. Emotional uncertainty was of particular interest in this study, and was validated by means of an experiment in which physiological and psychological responses to the anticipation of threat were assessed. The findings showed that heart-rate, blood pressure and state anxiety were affected in predictable ways as a function of scores on the new scale, and the paper concludes with suggestions for research applications using the URS.

The construction and preliminary validation of a scale for measuring emotional control

Abstract This study reports on the construction and preliminary validation of a scale for measuring emotional control, which has been developed in the context of research on stress. Factor analysis of the initial item pool uncovered a 40-item, four-factor structure which was replicated in an independent sample of subjects. The four factors, entitled Rehearsal, Emotional Inhibition, Aggression Control and Benign Control, were all internally consistent and stable over time. Preliminary concurrent validation of the final form of the scale, entitled the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ), showed that the factors were related in meaningful ways to other relevant indices of personality. The study concludes with suggestions for research applications using the ECQ.

A psychometric re-assessment of the COPE questionnaire

Abstract The present paper offers a re-analysis of the COPE questionnaire [Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. & Weintraub, J. J. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: a theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267–283], based on analyses of the responses of 587 National Health Service employees. The data were analysed both by items and by sub-scales, and used more appropriate factoring techniques. Results showed a clear three-factor structure involving rational, emotion-focused and avoidance coping, which was similar to other recent coping scales such as the Multidimensional Coping Inventory [MCI — Endler, N. S. & Parker, D. A. (1990). Multidimensional assessment of coping: a critical evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 844–854] and the Coping Styles Questionnaire [CSQ — Roger, D., Jarvis, G. & Najarian, B. (1993). Detachment and coping: the construction and validation of a new scale for measuring coping strategies. Personality and Individual Differences, 15, 619–626]. However, the analyses also showed that the apparent similarities between the COPE, MCI and CSQ may mask significant underlying differences, which have important implications for the way in which coping is assessed. In a further analysis, radial parcel analysis [Cattell, R. B. & Burdsal, C. A. (1975). The radial parcel double factoring design: a solution to the item-vs-parcel controversy. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 10, 165–191] was used in an attempt to force the COPE questions into the original 13 four-item sub-scales, but this failed. A new scoring key is proposed.

Uncertainty, stress and health

Previous research has shown that uncertainty constitutes a powerful stressor (e.g. Monat, Averill, & Lazarus, 1972; Zakowski, 1995), although individual differences in reactions to uncertainty have not been investigated adequately. The Uncertainty Response-Emotional factor from the Uncertainty Response Scale (URS—Greco & Roger, 2001) measures individual differences in the extent to which uncertainty is perceived as stressful. This paper addresses the relationship between uncertainty and health by means of an experiment in which physiological arousal was measured during a period of experimentally-induced uncertainty. Results showed that Uncertainty Response-Emotional predicted increases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure during a period of anticipation prior to the occurrence of a possible threat of unknown intensity.

Individual differences in delayed heart-rate recovery following stress: The role of extraversion, neuroticism and emotional control

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of individual differences on heart-rate reactivity and recovery following exposure to a laboratory stressor (performance on the Stroop task). The personality scales used were EPI Extraversion and Neuroticism and four subscales comprising the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ). Contrary to predictions the EPI scales were unrelated to the physiological indices, but there were significant correlations between the Benign Control scale of the ECQ and heart rate reactivity and between the Rehearsal scale and heart-rate recovery.

The stress buffering effects of self-esteem.

Abstract Self-esteem has been shown to moderate the stress-illness relationship, although the mechanisms by which this occurs has not been directly tested. This research examined the potential moderating influence of self-esteem on stress appraisal and reactivity in a stress-inducing laboratory exercise. Two experiments examined whether participants who are exposed to a high self-esteem manipulation show less stress responsivity. The results from Study 1 (N = 53) revealed the expected effect: participants in the high self-esteem group reported experiencing less stress and achieved better performance on the Stroop task. The results from Study 2 (N = 29) pointed to differences in underlying autonomic reactivity, with the high self-esteem group demonstrating less heart-rate arousal during a social performance task. These studies suggest that self-esteem may moderate against the pernicious effects of stress via the primary appraisal process.

Cognitive style and well-being: A prospective examination

This study examines the moderating influence of self-esteem, coping styles, emotion-control and other dimensions of cognitive style on physical and psychological well-being. First-year university students (N = 121) facing a personally relevant Stressor, the arrival and adaptation to university life, were first assessed, at Time 1, with a battery of measures tapping components of cognitive style and baseline physical ailments and levels of psychological distress. At Time 2, approximately 8 weeks later, subjects once again completed a measure of somatic health and psychological well-being. After statistically partialling health status at Time 1, self-esteem, interpersonal locus of control and emotion-oriented coping predicted poor health status and distress. Furthermore, the self-esteem × emotion-oriented coping interaction effect superseded the individual effects, thus suggesting that self-esteem may moderate well-being directly as well as indirectly via coping styles and emotion-control strategies.

Locus of control and socialization

Abstract On the basis of classical association theory, it was predicted that an external locus of control would characterize undersocialization. This hypothesis was tested on a random sample of secondary school children, using a battery of self-report “socialization-delinquent personality” measures to assess degree of socialization. Factorial validity for the use of these measures was obtained from a factor analysis which uncovered a general factor of socialization, while evidence for convergent validity was derived from the relationship between these scales and teacher ratings of refractory behavior. Scores from the Child Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External Scale were found to predict undersocialization in the expected direction. Several possible interpretations of this relationship were suggested and a biosocial explanation was advanced to account for the possible simultaneous development of both externality and undersocialization.