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Emotion Regulation Questionnaire

ERQ
psychologysocial sciencesFree for research use

Permission: Free for research use. Free for non-commercial academic research, with no license fee. Cite the original publication.

A 10-item self-report measure of habitual cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as emotion-regulation strategies.

Items
10
Response format
7-point Likert scale
Version
Original 10-item ERQ
Subscales
2

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Habitual emotion regulation was assessed with the 10-item Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003), which yields separate Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression scores (original-study α = .79 and .73, respectively).

Citing this in a methods section? See the APA 7 guide (Author–date citations for psychology and the social sciences). Or compare all six citation styles.

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Reliability & validation

Validation population
Undergraduate validation samples (Gross & John, 2003)
Test–retest
0.69
Cronbach's α
0.73–0.79

Subscales

Cognitive ReappraisalExpressive Suppression

Response anchors

Strongly disagree · 2 · 3 · Neutral · 5 · 6 · Strongly agree

Known limitations

The ERQ measures two strategies rather than the full emotion-regulation repertoire. Suppression scores can differ by cultural context, and neither subscale is a diagnostic measure. Confirm reproduction terms before administration.

Original citation

Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 348-362.

https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348

Questions researchers ask

What does the ERQ measure?

A 10-item self-report measure of habitual cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as emotion-regulation strategies.

How many items does the ERQ have?

The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) has 10 items across 2 subscales: Cognitive Reappraisal, Expressive Suppression.

Is the ERQ free to use?

The ERQ is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.

Is the ERQ reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.73–0.79, test–retest reliability of 0.69. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the ERQ, and how do I cite it?

Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 348-362. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348

Or track new research mentioning ERQ as it publishes

Related scales

DERS-36Difficulties in Emotion Regulation ScaleFSFlourishing ScaleMLQMeaning in Life QuestionnaireSWLSSatisfaction with Life ScaleTIPITen-Item Personality InventoryAHSAdult Dispositional Hope Scale

Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference. Questionnaires are built in Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing, and can be taken to Qualtrics, Google Forms or Microsoft Forms, with their CSV responses brought back for scoring.