The assessment of emotion regulation in cognitive context: The emotion amplification and reduction scales

The purpose of this study was to provide initial psychometric evidence for the reliability and validity of The Emotion Amplification and Reduction Scales (TEARS), a questionnaire designed to assess perceived ability to change the trajectory of an emotional response. Items were formulated to assess perceived ability to amplify an emotionally response by either prolonging or intensifying an existing emotion. Additional items were selected to measure processes related to emotion reduction, selecting an emotional response or altering an existing emotion by softening, stopping, or shortening it. Both subscales, Emotion Amplification and Emotion Reduction, were found to have good internal consistency. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to document the two-factor structure of the measure and to assess evidence for construct validity. The latent Emotion Reduction variable was found to correlate inversely with negative affect and symptoms of depression. The latent Emotion Amplification variable was found to correlate with higher positive affect and also fatigue. As expected, TEARS is correlated with tonic measures of emotionality.