Emotional Style Questionnaire: A Multidimensional Measure of Healthy Emotionality

• Published in: Psychological assessment 2019-10, Vol.31 (10), p.1234-1246
• Main Authors: Kesebir, Pelin, Gasiorowska, Agata, Goldman, Robin, Hirshberg, Matthew J., Davidson, Richard J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Attention; Construct Validity; Emotional Style; Emotionality (Personality); Emotions; Factor Structure; Female; Happiness; Human; Humans; Intuition; Male; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Psychological aspects; Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Reproducibility of Results; Resilience, Psychological; Self Concept; Self Report; Social Perception; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Test Construction; Test Validity; Test-Retest Reliability; Well Being
• ISSN: 1040-3590; 1939-134X
• DOI: 10.1037/pas0000745

In four studies, we document the development and validation of the Emotional Style Questionnaire (ESQ)-a 24-item self-report measure that captures how people vary across 6 dimensions that make up a healthy emotional life. These 6 dimensions (Outlook, Resilience, Social Intuition, Self-Awareness, Sensitivity to Context, and Attention) are based on a theoretical framework drawn from neuroscientific studies of emotion. Study 1 reports the development of the ESQ and provides initial support for the proposed factorial structure of the scale. Study 2 confirms the adequacy of the factorial structure in a second sample and establishes the construct validity of each of the 6 subscales. In Study 3, we test the relationship between the ESQ as a measure of healthy emotionality and various indicators of psychological and physical well-being. Finally, Study 4 investigates the test-retest reliability of the scale and reveals very good reliability across an interval of 4 weeks. We conclude that the ESQ is a psychometrically solid and easily implementable instrument that can be used to gauge healthy emotionality and its components in both clinical and research settings. Public Significance Statement This study introduces the Emotional Style Questionnaire-a 24-item measure of overall emotional health-which also provides more fine-tuned information about the 6 different dimensions underlying emotional health. This easily implementable questionnaire can be used by anyone (e.g., researchers, clinicians) interested in understanding the emotional profile of a person.