The Dutch Version of the Emotion Reactivity Scale Validation and Relation with Various Behaviors in a Sample of High School Students

In the present study we investigated the psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Emotion Reactivity Scale (ERS; Nock, Wedig, Holmberg, & Hooley, 2008). A sample of 615 high school students completed the ERS, together with the Adult Temperament Questionnaire, the Utrecht Coping List, the Self-Injury Questionnaire, and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the one-and the three factor structure of the ERS. Both solutions showed stability across sex. However, given the high correlations between the three ERS subscales (ranging from r = .87 to r = .94), the more parsimonious 1-factor solution was preferred. The resulting ERS total scale had an internal consistency coefficient of .95 and was positively related to the temperament trait Negative Affectivity and negatively to Effortful Control. Additionally, it correlated significantly and positively with less adequate coping skills (such as Passive Depressive Reaction Patterns and Avoidance) and negatively with adequate coping skills (such as Active Problem Solving). Finally, the ERS scale discriminated between high school students with and without nonsuicidal self-injurious and eating-disorder related behaviors. The ERS is a reliable and valid questionnaire to measure emotion reactivity.