Fpsyg 11 00946

ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 26 May 2020

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00946
Effects of Age and Gender in

Emotion Regulation of Children and
Adolescents
Alejandro Sanchis-Sanchis 1,2* , Ma Dolores Grau 2 , Adoración-Reyes Moliner 2 and
Catalina Patricia Morales-Murillo 2
1
Escuela de Doctorado, Catholic University of Valencia “San Vicente Mártir”, Valencia, Spain, 2 Faculty of Psychology,
Catholic University of Valencia “San Vicente Mártir”, Valencia, Spain
Emotional regulation, understood as the skills and strategies needed to influence and/or
modify the emotional experiences, has a very remarkable implication within numerous
emotional and behavioral disorders in childhood and adolescence. In recent years there
has been a significant increase in research on emotional regulation, however, the results
are still divergent in terms of differences in emotional regulation in relation to age and
gender. This study aimed to assess emotional regulation in adolescents in relation to
their age and gender. Two hundred and fifty-four adolescents from eight schools in
the Valencian Community and aged between 9 and 16 years participated in the study.
The adolescents completed the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and the
FEEL-KJ questionnaire. We analyzed the differences in emotional regulation strategies
Edited by:
Ilaria Grazzani, and a latent emotional regulation variable in two age groups (9–12 years and 13–
University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy 16 years) and by gender. The results suggested that children and pre-adolescents in
Reviewed by: the 9–12 year group obtained lower scores in the emotional regulation strategies than
Andrea Baroncelli,
the 13–16 year group. Girls reported higher scores on the use of emotional regulation
University of Florence, Italy
Vanda Zammuner, strategies when experiencing sadness, anxiety and anger than boys, and on the overall
University of Padua, Italy average of regulation according to these specific emotions. Age, but not gender, had a
*Correspondence: major effect on scores for the latent variable of emotion regulation. An interaction effect
Alejandro Sanchis-Sanchis
alejandro.sanchis@ucv.es between age and gender was identified in the latent emotion regulation scores. Girls
tended to have higher scores than boys when they were younger and lower scores than
Specialty section: boys when they were older. These results could be relevant for designing prevention and
This article was submitted to
Developmental Psychology, intervention programs for adolescents and at different ages.
a section of the journal
Keywords: emotion regulation, emotion expression, emotional development, age, gender difference, adolescents
Frontiers in Psychology
Received: 12 September 2019
Accepted: 16 April 2020
Published: 26 May 2020
INTRODUCTION
Citation: Emotions are an essential part of human functioning, whose aim is to fulfill an adaptive function
Sanchis-Sanchis A, Grau MD, (Lang et al., 1998; Damasio, 2000) as they give us information about ourselves and the environment
Moliner A-R and Morales-Murillo CP
around us and predispose us to act accordingly. However, it is necessary to be able to employ
(2020) Effects of Age and Gender
in Emotion Regulation of Children
processes of emotional regulation in situations where the person requires an adjustment of the
and Adolescents. emotional response of high intensity. Research on emotional variables and emotional regulation is
Front. Psychol. 11:946. one of the fastest growing topics since the 1990s (Southam-gerow and Kendall, 2002; Koole, 2009;
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00946 Tamir, 2011).
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org 1 May 2020 | Volume 11 | Article 946

Sanchis-Sanchis et al. Age and Gender Emotion Regulation
One of the most widely used definitions of emotional sadness and anxiety, and boys express more externalizing
regulation is proposed by Gross (2015) which refers to “all emotions such as anger.
those processes through which people influence the emotions The factors that modulate these gender differences are age,
they have, when they have them and how they experience and interpersonal context and the type of task in which they are
express them.” Thompson (1994) defines emotional regulation as observed (Chaplin and Aldao, 2013). This suggests that gender
“the external and internal processes responsible for monitoring, differences in the expression of emotions may not be static
evaluating and modifying our emotional reactions to meet and fixed features in individuals, but are mediated by complex
our goals.” Emotional regulation is generally understood as an interactions with the environment. The context in which the child
adaptive process; however, attempts to regulate our emotions are develops allows for flexible modulation of emotions, which is
not always effective. a protective factor against the development of psychopathology
Differences in regulation and emotional expression according (e.g. Cole et al., 1994; Bonanno et al., 2004; Cole et al., 2004;
to gender have been a topic of much study in scientific literature. Westphal et al., 2010).
Emotional expression, a skill associated with the regulation of Focusing on the use of specific emotional regulation strategies,
emotions, as pointed out by Gross (1998), is the ability to studies show that girls use more adaptive strategies, such as
communicate emotions through their external manifestation, re-evaluation or active coping, and maladaptive ones, such
whether verbal or behavioral (Savage et al., 2016). as rumination and suppression (Chaplin and Aldao, 2013).
Emotion regulatory processes involve three mechanisms: Adaptive strategies are weakly related to depressive symptoms,
input regulation, reappraisal and output regulation (i.e. strategies while maladaptive strategies are strongly related to depressive
used to regulate emotional responses including expression of symptoms (Orgilés et al., 2018).
emotion) (Gross, 2001; Schulz and Lazarus, 2012). In this This suggests that, although women may use more adaptive
sense, studies on emotional expression collect different theories strategies than men, this does not help prevent the development
regarding the why of these gender differences. Firstly, biological of emotional problems. Instead, women’s use of maladaptive
theories between men and women point out that differences in strategies, to a greater extent than men, predisposes them to a
emotional regulation are due to innate genetic differences or higher risk for the development of emotional disorders (Chaplin
differences that develop with age, such as hormonal differences and Aldao, 2013). This is in line with studies that indicate that
that appear throughout the maturation period. In this sense, it women have a higher prevalence of emotional disturbance than
is pointed out that boys have higher levels of arousal than girls men (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) and may
in infancy and early childhood, and on the other hand, they reflect a more general tendency for women to be more aware of
also present a lower capacity for language and inhibitory control and willing to engage with their emotions than men (Fujita et al.,
(Zahn-Waxler et al., 2008). 1991; Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1999).
Other theories emphasize the importance of the cultural With regard to age and emotional regulation, studies show
patterns of education received. Social development theories that during childhood and adolescence, the acquisition of
point out that children learn behaviors consistent with gender skills to modulate emotional responses is closely related to
roles, and develop cognitive patterns based on their experience the neurobiological maturation that shapes different levels of
and observation of the environment (Martin and Halverson, organization at the physiological, cognitive and behavioral levels.
1981; Liben and Bigler, 2002). Children learn both explicitly Similarly, certain characteristics of the context in which children
and through modeling to behave according to gender roles and adolescents develop can favor or hinder the skills with which
(Bandura, 1969). each learns to express emotions (Campos et al., 2004; Goldsmith
Finally, social constructivist theories point out the importance and Davidson, 2004; Lewis and Stieben, 2004; Steinberg, 2005;
of the expression of gender differences based on biological Zeman et al., 2006; Thompson and Goodvin, 2007; Thompson
and social differences in development, but also point out the et al., 2008; Luna et al., 2010; Thompson and Goodman, 2010;
importance of context in the expression of internalized behavior. Thompson, 2011; Cole, 2014).
The expectations of society in general, mark the expression The interest in the study of emotional variables in child
of men’s and women’s behavior according to the gender psychopathology has been growing in recent years (Southam-
expectations that the social context has (Deaux and Major, 1987). gerow and Kendall, 2002) and has been mainly focused on the
In general, studies on differences in the expression of emotions study of the emotional regulation strategies that adolescents
in boys and girls indicate that boys are more likely to present develop according to the contexts, situations and factors involved.
externalizing expressions of emotions while girls are more The coping repertoires of children and adolescents increase
likely to internalize them. Gender differences in emotional with age. As children grow older, instrumental action is
expression are the result of a combination of biologically based complemented by planned problem-solving, they are more
temperamental predispositions and on the other hand, the capable of attending to and reflecting on their own internal
socialization of boys and girls will adopt gender related rules for emotional states, and they are increasingly dependent on
the expression of emotions (Brody and Hall, 2008). more sophisticated strategies for coping with emotions
In this regard, a meta-analysis by Chaplin and Aldao (2013) (Zimmer-Gembeck and Skinner, 2011).
shows significant, though small, differences in gender roles in The regulation of emotions through cognition is an essential
the expression of emotions. Thus, girls express more positive part of people’s management of emotions in the face of stressful
emotions and more negative internalizing emotions such as events (Garnefski et al., 2007). From an early age, children face

many stressful events and learn to cope with these situations, in the treatment for emotional disorders in adults, children and
very simple ways and with external strategies, and they increase adolescents (anxiety and depression).
their repertoire of strategies as they grow up, going from external In ligth of the above, we plan to analyze these three questions:
to internal, i.e. cognitive, strategies (Aldwin, 1994; Fields and
Prinz, 1997; Stegge et al., 2004). By the age of eight or nine, 1. What are the emotion regulation strategies used the least and
children have already learned to regulate their emotions through the most by the children and youth in our sample?
cognitions or thoughts about themselves, their feelings or others 2. Are there differences in the mean scores of children and youth
(Harris, 1989; Terwogt and Stegge, 1995; Saarni, 1999). in the CERQ and FEEL-KJ emotion regulation strategies by
Studies on the development of cognitive processes, and of gender and age group?
brain structures related to the regulation of emotions, suggest 3. Are there differences in the mean scores of children and
that as adolescents mature, they develop more effective regulation youth in the three FEEL-KJ emotions (i.e. anger, sadness, and
of emotions so that they use more adaptive strategies such as anxiety) by gender and age group?
the cognitive re-evaluation strategy. However, there is also an 4. Are there main and interaction effects of gender and age
increase in the maladaptive rumination strategy and less use of group on the Emotion Regulation Latent scores of children
the adaptive distraction strategy (Zimmer-Gembeck and Skinner, and youth?
2011; Theurel and Gentaz, 2018).
Other authors (Zimmermann and Iwanski, 2014) nuance this
change with age, so they find that at age 13–15 adolescents show MATERIALS AND METHODS
fewer adaptive regulatory strategies overall than those at age 11
or over 17. They find that in mid-adolescence (13–15 years), Participants
adolescents often show a decline in the use of strategies compared Two-hundred and fifty-four children and adolescents, recruited
to early or late adolescence. This could be explained by the from eight schools in the Valencian Community (i.e. Spanish
emotional difficulties and conflict with parents reported at this State), participated in the study. Participants’ ages ranged from 9
stage (Laursen et al., 1998). to 16 years old. Children and adolescents were classified in one of
Along the same lines, other research has found that in two groups based on their age and according to the classification
mid-adolescence there is less use of suppression and cognitive of adolescence periods of the World Health Organization (WHO,
reevaluation compared to younger age groups (Gullone et al., 2003). The first group consisted of children from 9 to 12 years old
2010). It was also shown that cognitive reevaluation was (n = 118), and the second group consisted of adolescents from 13
negatively related and avoidance positively related to concurrent to 16 years old (n = 115). One-hundred and nine were boys and
emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence. Suppression 102 were girls; data on gender were missing for 43 participants.
and avoidance were also found to be associated with an increase Criteria for inclusion of the participant students in the study
in emotional and behavioral problems (Flouri and Mavroveli, were to be attending between 4th grade of elementary school
2013; Verzeletti et al., 2016). (i.e. students turning 10 years old during the school year) and
Emotional regulation has traditionally been considered in 4th grade of secondary school (i.e. students turning 16 years old
the literature as something linked to psychopathology, although during this school year) and having their parents or legal guardian
as Gross (1998) points out, emotional regulation can be both signature in the informed consent form.
adaptive and maladaptive, depending on the person, the emotion, The exclusion criterion for children was having an established
its intensity and the context (Bonanno et al., 2004). diagnosis of intellectual disability.
There is a growing body of research that points to
difficulties in emotional regulation at the base of different Instruments
psychological disorders and health problems (Fernandez- FEEL-KJ: Vragenlijst over emotieregulatie bij kinderen en
Berrocal and Extremera, 2014). In this regard, given the jongeren [Questionnaire to Assess Children’s and Adolescents
high prevalence rates of anxiety disorders in children and Emotion Regulation Strategies Grob and Smolenski, 2005; Dutch
adolescents (between 15 and 20%) (Beesdo et al., 2009) makes version by Braet et al., 2014] is an instrument whose purpose is to
it especially important to consider emotional regulation in measure emotional regulation in different emotions. In addition,
studies of this stage. the FEEL-KJ measures both internal and external regulation
If emotion regulation is a risk factor for future strategies. Internal regulation includes processes such as directing
psychopathology, techniques aimed at developing adaptive attention to other stimuli, re-evaluating emotionally charged
emotion regulation skills should be incorporated into both events, and re-evaluating internal stimuli. External regulation
treatment and preventive interventions. Psychopathology is refers to the search for different forms of processing in interaction
increasingly considering a transdiagnostic orientation, that with the environment, for example, seeking social support or
is, studying and deepening the basic processes, dimensions, expressing one’s emotions.
mechanisms, etc. that underlie, maintain and explain the It is a self-report measure composed of 90 items that evaluate
psychopathology of different disorders and diagnostic categories 15 emotional regulation strategies in response to three basic
in adults (Fairburn et al., 2003; Barlow et al., 2004; Harvey emotions, anxiety, sadness and anger. Each strategy is evaluated
et al., 2004). In this sense, several meta-analyses (Ewing et al., by two items on a Likert scale (from 1 = rarely to 5 = almost
2015; García-Escalera et al., 2016) support the effectiveness of always). The instrument consists of 15 primary scales (average

TABLE 1 | Emotion regulation strategies of the FEEL-KJ. The FEEL-KJ has been used in different research on emotional
regulation and binge eating in children and adolescents from
Emotion regulation strategies Example of the strategies
8 to 13 years old (Czaja et al., 2009), loss of control eating
Adaptive strategies in adolescents from 12 to 18 years old (Goossens et al., 2016)
Problem solving “I try to change what makes me angry” influence of emotional regulation on emotional disorders (Braet
Distraction “I do something fun” et al., 2014; Van Beveren et al., 2016) or the development
Forgetting “I think it will pass” of emotional regulation throughout childhood and adolescence
Acceptance “I accept what makes me angry” (Cracco et al., 2017). It’s use would also be useful to study the use
Humor enhancement “I think about things that make me happy” of different emotional regulation strategies among different ages
Cognitive problem solving “I think about what I can do” as well gender differences, an aspect that we are concerned with
Revaluation “I tell myself it is nothing important” in this research.
Maladaptive strategies The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ)
Giving up “I don’t want to do anything” (Garnefski et al., 2001) (Spanish version: Dominguez-Sanchez
Withdrawal “I don’t want to see anyone” et al., 2013). This instrument evaluates the thoughts that arise
Rumination “I cannot get it out of my head” from experiencing negative events. It measures the cognitive
Self-devaluation “I blame myself” strategies of emotional regulation that people use when faced
Aggressive actions “I get into a quarrel with others” with negative or stressful situations in their lives. It is
External strategies composed of nine subscales: self-blame, acceptance, rumination,
Social support “I tell someone how I am doing” positive reorientation, planning, positive re-evaluation, putting
Expression “I express my anger” oneself in perspective, catastrophism, and blaming others.
Emotional Control “I keep my feelings for myself” These strategies are grouped into two categories: adaptive
Adapted from Grob and Smolenski (2005). and maladaptive strategies. The adaptive strategies: acceptance,
positive refocusing, refocus on planning, positive reappraisal
and putting into perspective. The maladaptive strategies: Self-
of the three emotions together for each regulation strategy) and blame, rumination, other-blame and catastrophizing (Table 3).
three secondary scales: a scale of 7 adaptive strategies (acceptance, This questionnaire can be applied from the age of 12,
problem-oriented action, cognitive problem solving, distraction, both in clinical and non-clinical populations, individually
neglect, reassessment and use of sense of humor), another of 5 or collectively. It consists of 36 items and each dimension
maladaptive strategies (giving up, aggressive action, withdrawal, is composed of 4 items. It is a Likert type response
self-assessment and perseverance) and another of 3 additional questionnaire (from 1 = “almost never”; to 5 = “almost
external regulation strategies (social support, expression and always”). The higher the score in a dimension, the greater
control over the emotion) (Table 1). The FEEL-KJ in its Dutch the use of this cognitive strategy of emotional regulation.
version has adequate psychometric properties, with an internal The psychometric properties shown by the instrument in both
consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) of the 15 scales ranging from a its original and Spanish versions are satisfactory, the latter
α = 0.59 to a α = 0.91. For the secondary scales, α = 0.94 (8– obtaining an internal consistency with a Cronbach’s alpha
12) and α = 0.95 (13–18) for adaptive strategies; α = 0.89 (8–12) from 0.61 to 0.89.
and α = 0.92 for maladaptive strategies and α = 0.79 (8–12) and The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire – Kids
α = 0.89 (13–18) for external strategies (Braet et al., 2014). (CERQ-k) (Garnefski et al., 2007) (English Version: Orgilés
The internal consistency index (i.e. Cronbach’sα) for the scores et al., 2018). This is the children’s version of the CERQ
in our study by strategy, emotion, and factor are shown in questionnaire (from 9 to 11 years old) for both clinical and
Table 2. The internal consistency of the Disadaptive and Adaptive non-clinical populations. It evaluates the thoughts that the
Emotion strategies was 0.83 and 0.94, respectively. For external child usually has after experiencing a negative event. Like
regulation strategies it was 0.85. In addition to Cronbach Alpha, the adult version, it assesses the same nine coping processes
a more suitable test for internal consistency of ordinal scales was with a 36-item Likert type scale (from 1 = “almost never”;
used (i.e. Ordinal Alpha or KR-20). Ordinal Alpha values of the to 5 = “almost always”). The psychometric properties show
FEEL-KJ scores indicated 12 out of the 15 FEEL-KJ strategies an adequate internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha values
had internal consistency values above 0.70, ranging from 0.61 to ranging from 0.67 to 0.79.
0.98 (Table 2). The internal consistency indices for the scores in our study
The FEEL-KJ is a tool that can be used both to explore for adolescents in the CERQ and CERQ-K and the different
the use of adaptive, maladaptive and external strategies for subscales are as follows: The internal consistency (α Cronbach’s)
each individual emotion (anger, anxiety and sadness), and to of the scores was 0.82 for overall CERQ, 0.82 for adaptive
determine a child or adolescent’s strengths and weaknesses emotional regulation strategies and 0.80 for maladaptive ones.
by strategy. Therefore, the goal is not only to identify In terms of CERQ dimensions, the α-values ranged from 0.58
deficits, but also competencies. The FEEL-KJ can be a to 0.84 (Table 2). When considering Ordinal Alpha values,
valuable tool in studies on the prevalence of adaptive and none of the scores in the subscales, strategies, or the total were
maladaptive emotional regulation strategies in normal and below 0.70 (Table 2). Therefore, the internal consistency of these
clinical populations (Aldao et al., 2010). scores was supported.

TABLE 2 | Descriptive Statistics for the FEEL-KJ and CERQ Participants’ Overall Scores.
Subscales and dimensions Min – Max M (SD) Skewness Kurtosis Cronbach Alpha (α) Ordinal Alpha (KR-20)
FEEL-KJ (N = 254)
Factors
Adaptive 40–207 136.09 (28.2) −0.2 (0.15) −0.19 (0.3) 0.94 0.96
Maladaptive 24–130 75.66 (16.22) 0.23 (0.15) 0.54 (0.3) 0.83 0.97
External Regulation 18–90 52.32 (13.72) −0.01 (0.15) −0.14 (0.3) 0.85 0.96
Emotions
Anger 44–121 87.22 (12.21) −0.23 (0.15) 0.64 (0.3) 0.68 0.96
Sadness 46–121 87.92 (13.35) −0.3 (0.15) 0.51 (0.31) 0.75 0.98
Anxiety 20–131 88.11 (13.77) −0.41 (0.15) 2.08 (0.3) 0.73 0.98
Strategies
Problem solving 6–30 20.92 (4.79) −0.45 (0.15) −0.11 (0.3) 0.74 0.96
Distraction 6–30 20.83 (6.32) −0.28 (0.15) −0.91 (0.3) 0.86 0.91
Forgetting 6–30 20.81 (6.2) −0.34 (0.15) −0.74 (0.3) 0.85 0.64
Acceptance 4–30 17.32 (4.61) 0.08 (0.15) 0.05 (0.3) 0.64 0.77
Humor Enhancement 4–30 19.69 (4.8) −0.18 (0.15) 0.03 (0.3) 0.65 0.92
Cognitive Problem Solving 6–30 20.57 (5.18) −0.36 (0.15) −0.18 (0.3) 0.80 0.61
Revaluation 4–30 15.96 (5) 0.26 (0.15) −0.08 (0.3) 0.76 0.86
Giving Up 5–30 14.72 (4.73) 0.42 (0.15) 0.08 (0.3) 0.67 0.81
Withdrawal 4–30 13.24 (5.61) 0.62 (0.15) −0.17 (0.3) 0.80 0.94
Rumination 5–30 18.22 (4.82) 0.1 (0.15) −0.16 (0.3) 0.60 0.70
Self-Devaluation 6–30 17.31 (4.37) 0.09 (0.15) −0.3 (0.3) 0.58 0.85
Aggressive Actions 4–27 12.17 (4.72) 0.66 (0.15) −0.16 (0.3) 0.75 0.98
Expression 2–34 14.79 (5.88) 0.56 (0.15) 0.07 (0.3) 0.75 0.92
Social Support 6–30 18.61 (6.62) −0.08 (0.15) −0.9 (0.3) 0.88 0.65
Emotional Control 5–30 16.87 (5.38) 0.11 (0.15) −0.34 (0.3) 0.69 0.80
CERQa (N = 247)
Factors
Maladaptive 17–66 40.68 (9.67) −0.08 (0.15) −0.38 (0.31) 0.80 0.91
Adaptive 30–93 62.16 (12.06) 0.03 (0.15) −0.26 (0.31) 0.82 0.97
Strategies
Self-Blame 4–19 9.74 (3.4) 0.57 (0.15) −0.09 (0.31) 0.69 0.94
Acceptance 4–19 11.29 (3.39) 0.04 (0.15) −0.67 (0.31) 0.58 0.94
Rumination 4–20 12.46 (3.72) 0.14 (0.15) −0.55 (0.31) 0.73 0.91
Positive Refocusing 4–20 12.28 (4.55) 0.04 (0.15) −0.91 (0.31) 0.84 0.72
Refocus on Planning 4–20 13.56 (3.7) −0.31 (0.15) −0.44 (0.31) 0.77 0.77
Positive Reappraisal 4–20 12.21 (3.69) 0.08 (0.15) −0.65 (0.31) 0.69 0.83
Putting into Perspective 4–20 12.81 (3.63) −0.003 (0.15) −0.38 (0.31) 0.64 0.83
Catastrophizing 4–19 9.98 (3.57) 0.39 (0.15) −0.43 (0.31) 0.68 0.96
Other-Blame 4–20 8.5 (3.31) 0.53 (0.15) −0.05 (0.31) 0.74 0.73
Total enclosure 52–151 102.84 (16.44) 0.53 (0.15) 0.15 (0.31) 0.82 0.97
a The scores of CERQ and CERQ-K were treated as one variable (CERQ).
The CERQ is a widely used instrument in the research of old). Furthermore, the CERQ allows a distinction to be made
emotional regulation due to its focus on cognitive regulatory between adaptive and maladaptive strategies and is therefore very
strategies (e.g. Garnefski et al., 2002; Zlomke and Hahn, 2010). useful for comparison with the results of the FEEL-KJ, which also
Other studies using CERQ analyze how children increase establishes this distinction between the strategies evaluated.
strategies as they grow, learn to regulate emotions, and To our knowledge, this is the first study that uses the FEEL-
use more cognitive strategies (Harris, 1989; Aldwin, 1994; KJ with a Spanish sample. Therefore, before data collection
Terwogt and Stegge, 1995; Fields and Prinz, 1997; Saarni, 1999; started, all scale items were translated into Spanish using
Stegge et al., 2004). translation (Dutch–Spanish) and back-translation (Spanish–
Therefore, the CERQ is a very interesting instrument to Dutch; Hambleton and Li, 2005; Muñiz et al., 2013). For
evaluate a set of emotional regulation strategies that are being this purpose, a native Dutch speaker, who was fluent in both
developed in the different ages of the present study (9 to 16 years languages and knowledgeable of both cultures (Dutch and

TABLE 3 | Cognitive strategies of the CERQ. Board approved the project, we contacted the principles of the
schools to request permission to invite students to participate in
Cognitve strategies Description of the strategies
the study. Parents signed an informed consent, and we met with
Adaptive strategies the leaders of each school to coordinate the most appropriate
Putting into perspective Decrease and relativize the severity of schedules for evaluating the participants.
the event The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration
Acceptance To resign and accept the irreversibility of Helsinki. Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review
of the negative experience
Board of the Catholic University of Valencia “San Vicente
Positive reappraisal Thoughts that highlight some positive
aspect of the unpleasant event
Mártir”, Spain.
Positive refocusing Having pleasent and joyous thougths
different from the negative event Data Analysis
Refocus on planning Thinking about how to solve the The statistical package SPSS 21 (IBM Corp, 2012) was used
problem to run descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, univariate
Maladaptive strategies analyses, and multivariate analyses to describe our sample’s scores
Rumiation State of excessive worry by negative on the FEEL-KJ and CERQ questionnaires and evaluate main
thoughts and feelings and interaction effects among the studied variables. Bonferroni
Catastrophizing To think about the horrible thing of what correction was used to minimized Type I error due to multiple
happend and conclude that it is the
testing (Bender and Lange, 2001). The cut-off p-value of 0.05
worse experience lived, even compared
with what other people have was divided by the number of tests performed. The new
experienced p-values for each test are reported in the “Results” section.
Self-blame Thoughts that attribute the cause of the Effect sizes were calculated using Cohen’s d and partial eta
negative event and emotion to oneself squared (η2 p ). For Cohen’s d, d-values < 0.50 were considered
Other-blame Make others responsible for the small, d-values between 0.50 and 0.80 were medium, and
negative event that happened d-values above 0.80 were large. As for partial eta squared, we
Adapted from Dominguez-Sanchez et al. (2013). interpreted effect size values a follows: 0.01 ≤ η2 p < 0.06 = small,
0.06 ≤ η2 p < 0.14 = moderate, and 0.14 ≤ η2 p = large
(Cohen, 1988).
Spanish), translated the original Dutch version into Spanish. The M-Box test and Levene’s test were used to ensure
Once the scale was translated into Spanish, a different person with homogeneity of group variance. The normal distribution of
the same characteristics as the first translator back-translated the data set was evaluated using the skewness and kurtosis
it into Dutch. Finally, the original Dutch version of the scale values of each variable and Shapiro–Wilk’s test (Schumacker,
and the back-translated Dutch version were compared to ensure 2016). The Cronbach Alpha (i.e. α) index was used to test the
that the original meaning of the items was retained. No cultural internal consistency of the scores in the questionnaires. Because
adaptations were made to the original version for this study. the measurement scales of the questionnaires were ordinal, we
To evaluate the validity of the translated version of the corroborated the internal consistency values using Ordinal Alpha
FEEL-KJ to measure the emotion regulation construct in our (KR-20), which is a more suitable internal consistency index for
study, the scores of the participants in the FEEL-KJ factors have ordinal scales. Ordinal Alpha is interpreted in the same manner
been correlated with the scores in the CERQ dimensions. The as Cronbach Alpha (Zumbo et al., 2007).
CERQ has been validated in the Spanish population (Dominguez- A latent variable, called Emotion Regulation, was created
Sanchez et al., 2013; Orgilés et al., 2018), therefore statistically using LISREL 9.2 (Jöreskog and Sörbom, 2016). The scores
significant correlations among the scores of the FEEL-KJ factors on Maladaptive Emotion Regulation and Adaptive Emotion
and the scores of the CERQ dimensions in our sample would Regulation on the FEEL-KJ, the corresponding CERQ subscales,
contribute to support the validity of the FEEL-KJ to measure and the external regulation subscale of the FEEL-KJ were used to
emotion regulation. The scores in the FEEL-KJ factor of Adaptive generate the latent variable. The Maximum Likelihood method
Strategies correlated in a positively, statistically significant and was used for the analysis. The determinant of the covariance
moderately manner with the CERQ Adaptive dimension, r = 0.60, matrix was positive (0.44), indicating that there was variability
p < 0.01. As for the FEEL-KJ Maladaptive Strategies factor, the among the variables after taking out the shared variance (Pituch
scores were positively, moderately, and statistically significantly and Stevens, 2016). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO = 0.50) test
related to the CERQ Maladaptive dimension scores, r = 0.50, and the Bartlett test of sphericity [X 2 (10) = 198.06, p < 0.01]
p < 0.01. No correlations were identified among the scores of were run to determine whether the dataset was adequate to run
the FEEL-KJ External Regulation Factor and the CERQ Adaptive this type of analysis (Schumacker and Lomax, 2010). For the
(r = 0.09, p > 0.05) and Maladaptive (r = −0.01, p > 0.05) KMO test, we accepted values above a recommended cut-off
dimensions scores. point of 0.50 (Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007) and for the Bartlett
test a significance p-value of 0.05 was our cut-off point (Kaiser,
Procedure 1974). Model fit statistics supported an adequate fit of our data
This study is part of a bigger project regarding the emotion to the specified model, χ 2 = 4.00, p = 0.26, df = 3, NFI = 0.98,
regulation of children and youth living in the Valencian RMSEA = 0.03. The standardized solution weights ranged from
Autonomous Community, Spain. After an Institutional Review −0.80 to 0.71.

To facilitate the interpretation of the generated Emotion (d = −0.53), and small (d = −0.47), respectively. The cut-off
Regulation latent scores in logits, we scaled the logit latent scores p-value after Bonferroni correction for this set of analyses was
to a range from 0 to 100. For this purpose, we calculated a 0.003. Table 4 shows the descriptive statistics, Student t-tests
mean and standard deviation based on the logit scores and results, and effect size values (Table 4). The girls scored higher
the new proposed scale (Bond and Fox, 2007). This mean on emotional regulation by emotion and joint or grand mean
and standard deviation were included in the formula Mean+- scores. Statistically significant differences between boys and girls
Logit∗ Standard Deviation to transform the scores to the new scale were observed in sadness-like emotions, anxiety. These results
(Allen and Schumacker, 1998). This transformation does not alter may indicate a greater use of regulation strategies by girls than
the characteristics of the dataset (Schumacker, 2006). The scaled by boys when experiencing sadness or anxiety (Table 5).
Emotion Regulation scores were included in a univariate analysis
to test main and interaction effects in relation to the children’s Differences on the CERQ and FEEL-KJ
gender and age group (i.e. 9–12 years old or 13–16 years old). Strategies by Age Group
Regarding the nine CERQ strategies, older participants (13–
16 years old) scored statistically significantly higher in Self-Blame
RESULTS (p = 0.002) and Refocus on Planning (p = 0.004) and lower
The overall scores on FEEL-KJ and CERQ showed participant in Positive Refocusing (p = 0.004) than younger participants (9
children and youth had higher scores in Adaptive Emotion to 12 years old). Effect sizes were small for all three strategies,
Regulation strategies and lower scores in Maladaptive Emotion ranging from −0.39 to 0.40 (Table 4). No statistically significant
Regulation Strategies (Table 2). In general, the children and differences were found among age groups when considering the
adolescents in the sample (9–16 years old) have good emotional fifteen FEEL-KJ strategies. The cut-off p-values after Bonferroni
regulation strategies evaluated at CERQ, with higher scores in correction for differences in the CERQ (i.e., p = 0.005) and FEEL-
Adaptive Emotion Regulation strategies (Refocusing on planning, KJ (i.e., p = 0.003) strategies scores by age group were the same
the child or adolescent tries to think about how to solve the as for the tests by gender. Table 4 shows the descriptive statistics
problem; followed by Puting into perspective, where the child and test results by age (Table 4).
or adolescent tries to lessen and relativize the severity of the Children ages 13 to 16 scored higher on the Sadness, Anxiety
situation) and lower scores on maladaptive strategies (Other and Joint or Grand Mean emotion regulation scores. However,
blame, the child or adolescent holds others responsible for the no statistically significant differences were seen in the use of
negative event; followed by Self blame, the child or adolescent emotional regulation strategies when considering emotion scores
attributes the causes of the negative event and emotion to him by age (Table 6).
or herself). Participants’ scores on the CERQ, ranged from 8.5
(Other-blame) to 13.56 (Refocus on planning). The overall mean Main and Interaction Effects of Gender
CERQ score was 102.84, SD = 16.44. and Age Group on Children’s and
The mean of the participants’ scores in the FEEL-KJ Adolescent’s Emotion Regulation Latent
emotion subscales revealed higher scores in the anxiety subscale Scores
(M = 88.11, SD = 13.77) and lower scores in the anger subscale
The variance analysis results revealed a main effect of age group
(M = 87.22, SD = 12.21), see Table 2. These results may
on the emotion regulation latent scores, F(1, 201) = 4.11, p < 0.05,
indicate that the participants tend to use more emotion regulation
n2 p = 0.02, f 2 = 0.52. No main effects were found for participants’
strategies when experiencing anxiety than when experiencing
gender. Nonetheless, an interaction effect of gender and age
sadness or anger. Nonetheless, the differences in the scores
group on the children’s emotion regulation latent scores was
are less than a point, indicating that participants use emotion
supported, F(1, 201) = 15.47, p < 0.001, n2 p = 0.07, f 2 = 0.97.
regulation strategies when experiencing sadness, anxiety or
Younger girls tended to score higher than boys, and older girls
anger regardless.
scored lower than boys (see Table 7).
As for the FEEL-KJ emotion regulation strategies, participant
children and youth were more likely to use a problem solving
strategy (M = 20.92, SD = 4.79) than other emotion regulation
DISCUSSION
strategies and less likely to use aggressive action (M = 12.17,
SD = 4.72) as an emotion regulation strategy (Table 2). The objective of this study was to analyze the emotional
regulation of children and adolescents from 9 to 16 years old in
Differences on the CERQ and FEEL-KJ relation to age and gender. The results obtained with the FEEL-KJ
Strategies by Gender and CERQ show that Adaptive Emotion Strategies were used to
No statistically significant differences were identified for boys and a greater extent than Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Strategies
girls when considering the nine CERQ strategies scores. The cut- by the study participants. The characteristics of the instruments
off p-value for these tests was 0.005 after Bonferroni correction used have allowed this conclusion to be affirmed in a more
(Table 4). As for the FEEL-KJ strategies, girls scored statistically convincing way since both tests distinguish between adaptive
significantly higher than boys on Rumination (p = 0.001), and maladaptive strategies. These results are to be expected
Expression (p < 0.001), and Social Support (p = 0.001). The since this is a non-clinical sample and is in line with different
effect sizes of these differences were small (d = −0.47), moderate studies that analyze emotional regulation strategies in children

TABLE 4 | Mean differences on the FEEL-KJ and CERQ emotion regulation strategies scores by gender and age group.
Gendera Age Groupb
Emotion regulation 9–12 13–16

strategies Girls Boys tc p d years old years old td p d
FEEL-KJ Strategies
Problem solving 21.06 (4.58) 20.83 (4.66) −0.366 0.715 −0.050 20.87 (5.13) 21.08 (4.36) −0.329 0.743 −0.044
Distraction 21.09 (5.98) 21.06 (6.52) −0.028 0.978 −0.004 21.26 (6.86) 20.76 (5.77) 0.609 0.543 0.079
Forgetting 21.23 (5.98) 20.50 (6.29) −0.864 0.389 −0.119 21.66 (6.28) 20.17 (6.01) 1.846 0.066 0.242
Acceptance 17.16 (4.87) 17.60 (4.28) 0.698 0.486 0.096 17.09 (4.89) 17.62 (4.21) −0.873 0.383 −0.116
Humor Enhancement 20.30 (4.80) 19.05 (4.58) −1.934 0.054 −0.266 19.68 (5.00) 19.63 (4.49) 0.083 0.934 0.010
Cognitive Problem Solving 21.49 (4.57) 19.62 (5.48) −2.677 0.008 −0.369 20.33 (5.37) 20.85 (4.79) −0.782 0.435 −0.102
Revaluation 16.20 (4.87) 15.76 (4.85) −0.649 0.517 −0.089 15.44 (5.21) 16.39 (4.46) −1.494 0.137 −0.196
Giving Up 15.07 (4.74) 14.40 (4.54) −1.041 0.299 −0.143 14.6 (4.82) 14.63 (4.52) −0.040 0.968 −0.006
Withdrawal 13.34 (5.81) 12.97 (5.37) −0.481 0.631 −0.066 12.81 (5.87) 13.57 (5.23) −1.031 0.303 −0.137
Rumination 19.54 (4.66) 17.39 (4.51) −3.395 0.001 −0.468 17.92 (4.29) 18.79 (5.03) −1.416 0.158 −0.187
Self-Devaluation 17.57 (4.54) 17.05 (4.23) −0.866 0.387 −0.119 17.22 (4.57) 17.52 (4.21) −0.524 0.601 −0.068
Aggressive Actions 13.09 (4.98) 11.37 (4.31) −2.69 0.008 −0.371 11.94 (4.82) 12.3 (4.57) −0.577 0.565 −0.077
Expression 16.43 (6.68) 13.33 (4.83) −3.883 <0.001 −0.535 14.38 (5.76) 15.25 (6.12) −1.118 0.265 −0.146
Social Support 20.10 (6.88) 16.98 (6.43) −3.401 0.001 −0.469 18.19 (6.32) 18.87 (7.05) −0.769 0.442 −0.101
Emotional Control 16.77 (5.25) 17.30 (5.41) 0.718 0.473 0.099 17.09 (5.71) 17.05 (4.92) 0.059 0.953 0.007
CERQ Strategies
Self-Blame 9.55 (3.30) 10.18 (3.37) 1.369 0.172 0.192 9.08 (3.44) 10.44 (3.25) −3.065 0.002 −0.406
Acceptance 11.28 (3.403) 11.56 (3.29) 0.593 0.554 0.083 10.77 (3.39) 11.91 (3.36) −2.535 0.012 −0.337
Rumination 13.06 (3.77) 12.07 (3.57) −1.926 0.056 −0.269 12.04 (3.77) 12.83 (3.65) −1.588 0.114 −0.212
Positive Refocusing 12.10 (4.92) 11.97 (4.33) −0.203 0.840 −0.028 13.08 (4.59) 11.27 (4.41) 3.039 0.003 0.402
Refocusing on Planning 14.20 (3.83) 13.20 (3.49) −1.942 0.054 −0.272 12.97 (3.69) 14.37 (3.53) −2.896 0.004 −0.387
Positive Reappraisal 12.44 (3.84) 11.88 (3.54) −1.094 0.275 −0.153 11.91 (3.73) 12.51 (3.63) −1.239 0.128 −0.163
Putting into Perspective 13.21 (3.81) 12.69 (3.60) −0.989 0.324 −0.138 12.56 (3.68) 13.10 (3.62) −1.115 0.217 −0.147
Catastrophizing 9.53 (3.53) 10.13 (3.56) 1.217 0.225 0.170 10.01 (3.78) 9.70 (3.27) 0.661 0.311 0.087
Other-Blame 8.19 (3.29) 8.87 (3.32) 1.481 0.140 0.207 8.58 (3.59) 8.55 (3.05) 0.058 0.026 0.009
Bolded p-values highlight the stadistical significant results after the Bonfenrroni correction.
a FEEL-KJ test (Girls n = 102; Boys n = 109); CERQ tests (Girls n = 108; Boys n = 97).
b FEEL-KJ test (9–12 years old n = 118; 13–16 years old n = 115); CERQ tests (9–12 years old n = 118; 13–16 years old n = 109).
c CERQ t-tests df = 225; FEEL-KJ t-tests df = 231.
TABLE 5 | Descriptive statistics and hotelling T2 test results for differences in the TABLE 6 | Descriptive statistics and hotelling T2 test results for differences in the
FEEL-KJ emotions Subscales Scores by participants’ gender. FEEL-KJ emotions subscales scores by participants’ age group.
FEEL-KJ Emotion M (SD) F/t df1–df2 p η2 p/d M (SD) F/t df1–df2 p η2 p
Anger Anger
Boysa 86.36 (11.63) 1,06 1–203 0.30 0.17 9 to 12 years olda 86.53 (12.40) 0.60 1–225 0.44 0.003
Girlsb 88.48 (13.09) 13 to 16 years oldb 87.79 (11.89)
Boys and Girlsc 87.40 (12.38) Both age groupsc 87.14 (12.15)
Sadness Sadness
Boysa 84.85 (12.65) 8,56 1–203 <0.01 0.43 9 to 12 years olda 87.78 (14.07) 0.01 1–225 0.97 0.000
Anxiety Anxiety
Boysa 86.10 (12.84) 8,24 1–203 <0.01 0.41 9 to 12 years olda 87.69 (13.52) 0.54 1–225 0.46 0.002
Joint or Grand Mean Joint or Grand Mean
Boysa 85.77 (12.37) 4.72 3–201 <0.01 0.07d 9 to 12 years olda 87.33 (13.33) 0.40 3–223 0.76 0.005
an = 108; b n = 97; c N = 205; d η2 p. an = 118; b n = 109; c N = 227.

TABLE 7 | Mean and standard deviations of the latent emotion regulation variable no significant differences for the strategies reported by CERQ in
by age group and gender.
terms of gender.
Age groups N M (SD) Analyzing the age differences in emotional regulation
provided by the FEEL-KJ, children from 9 to 12 years old
9 to 12 years old showed slightly lower scores than adolescents from 13 to 16 years
Boys 59 55.33 (17.17)
old in emotional regulation strategies but the differences were
Girls 37 64.84 (17.42)
not statistically significant. This is in line with research that
Boys and Girls 96 58.99 (17.8)
13 to 16 years old
indicates that the older the child, the greater the emotional
Boys 49 59.94 (16.47) regulation (Theurel and Gentaz, 2018). However, other studies
Girls 60 50.41 (16.99) such as Zimmermann and Iwanski (2014) point out that in
Boys and Girls 109 54.7 (17.35) middle adolescence (13–15 years), adolescents tend to present
Total a decrease in strategies compared to early or late adolescence.
Boys 108 57.42 (16.94) This could be explained by the emotional difficulties and
Girls 97 55.91 (18.46) conflict with parents reported at this stage (Laursen et al.,
Boys and Girls 205 56.71 (17.65) 1998). Analyzing the different strategies of emotional regulation
presented by the FEEL-KJ, no significant results can be seen
between the two age groups.
Regarding the age differences in emotional regulation shown
and adolescents (John and Gross, 2004; Zimmer-Gembeck and in the CERQ, we observed that adolescents from 13 to 16
Skinner, 2011). score significantly higher in the Self-blame and Refocusing on
Specifically, the results show that the strategies that present Planning strategies. Children and adolescents from 9 to 12 score
higher scores measured with the CERQ are Refocusing on statistically significant higher in the Positive Refocusing strategy.
planning and Putting into perspective, being these adaptive The Self-blame strategy is associated with a greater propensity to
strategies, and those that present lower scores are Other blame develop depressive and anxiety symptoms. On the other hand, the
and Self blame, which are maladaptive. These results are similar Refocusing on Planning and Positive Refocusing strategies may
to those observed by Orgilés et al. (2018) in a Spanish sample aged have a positive effect on the prevention of depression (Orgilés
7–12 years, who found that the strategy most used by children et al., 2018). These results support the idea mentioned above that
and adolescents was Refocusing on planning and the less used during the stage of 13 to 16, adolescents would present more
Other-blame. emotional problems (Zimmermann and Iwanski, 2014) since, as
The results obtained with the FEEL-KJ show a higher Chaplin and Aldao (2013) point out, maladaptive strategies such
use of Problem solving and Distraction (Adaptive Emotion as Self-blame are strongly related to depressive symptoms, while
Regulation Strategies) and a lower use of Agressive actions adaptive strategies such as Refocusing on Planning are weakly
and Withdrawall (Maladaptive Emotion Regulation Strategies). related to such symptoms. Thus, proposals for intervention and
These results are in line with previous studies that show that prevention of psychopathology in this age group should focus on
emotional regulation strategies considered as adaptive are used reducing or eliminating maladaptive strategies and strengthening
more frequently than strategies considered as maladaptive in and promoting the use of adaptive ones, since, as discussed above,
adolescents (Garnefski et al., 2002). evidence suggests that adaptive strategies can act as a protective
In terms of gender differences, the FEEL-KJ results show that factor (Orgilés et al., 2018).
girls receive statistically significant higher scores on Sadness and Analyzing the previous results we see that to study the
Anxiety emotions, which may suggest a greater use of regulatory differences of emotional regulation according to gender we have
strategies when experiencing these emotions. However, since obtained significant results through the FEEL-KJ but not through
it’s outside the scope of this study, no analysis by emotion- the CERQ and the opposite case to what happened when we
based strategies has been conducted. Therefore, we cannot wanted to study the differences of emotional regulation according
determine with certainty whether there is greater use of adaptive, to age. This may be interesting when considering future research
maladaptive or external regulation strategies or the specific on gender and age variables, since it seems that the FEEL-
strategies that received the highest or lowest emotion-based KJ could be more sensitive to detect strategies of emotional
scores. However, the results regarding differences between boys regulation according to gender and the CERQ according to age.
and girls generally indicate that girls express more positive and However, this thesis will have to be investigated in greater depth
negative internalizing emotions than boys. This is in line with to be able to affirm it with greater certainty. Furthermore, it
other research (Thoits, 1991, 1994; Tamres et al., 2002; Chaplin is important to emphasize that in this study CERQ was used
and Aldao, 2013). for participants over 12 years old and CERQ-Kids for those
Following the results obtained by the FEEL-KJ, we observe that participants under 12 years old, which could indicate that the
girls have significantly higher scores than boys in the maladaptive way questions are posed according to the developmental level
strategy of Rumination and in the external regulation strategies of of children or adolescents may have an impact on identifying
Expression and Social support. These differences are consistent differences in the use of emotional regulation strategies. As
with the results found in previous research (Tamres et al., 2002; indicated in the introduction, the ability to modulate emotions
Silk et al., 2003) and could be the result of contextual factors is closely related to neurobiological maturation (Aldwin, 1994;
as suggested by Chaplin and Aldao (2013). However, there are Fields and Prinz, 1997; Stegge et al., 2004) a factor that should

be considered when assessing emotional regulation strategies, as On the other hand, social desirability or poor introspection
the authors of CERQ and CERQ-Kids do. Given that the FEEL-KJ can alter the validity of results measured by self-reporting. This
covers a wide age range, and has not been adapted by age groups, type of measurement may not be consistent with behavior in real
this could explain why no differences by age group will be found situations. It would be interesting for future research to obtain
with the FEEL-KJ. However, it is important to recognize that the information not only from children, but also from parents and
authors of the FEEL-KJ consider the differences in relation to age teachers so that the information can be contrasted.
when interpreting the results, dividing the scales by age group Likewise, the analysis of the emotional regulation strategies
(Grob and Smolenski, 2005). according to the FEEL-KJ emotions was done at the level of
One of the strengths of our study is the creation of a latent emotion (obtaining a general score of the use of strategies),
variable, called Emotion Regulation, combining the participants’ the scores in the emotional regulation strategies according to
scores on the factors of FEEL-KJ (adaptive, maladaptive and each emotion (sadness, anger, anxiety) were not analyzed. Future
external regulation), a tool that combines internal and external studies could focus on this type of analysis to determine if
strategies of emotional regulation, and the dimensions of CERQ by separating out emotion regulation strategies by emotion,
(adaptive and maladaptive), which focus on internal regulation. differences in the use of certain strategies over others can
The results show a more consistent agreement between the two be identified according to the emotion experienced. These
scales in relation to the good fit of the model proposed to generate differences could also be assessed in relation to the gender and age
the latent variable. of the participants, to detect whether the differences found in this
When we analyzed the results of gender and age separately, study are maintained when considering the choice of emotional
we found significant results for gender when we used the regulation strategies based on the emotion being experienced.
FEEL-KJ, when we used CERQ we found significant results for Finally, as this is a transversal study, no causal relationships
age. However, when we use both scales to generate a latent can be established, so it would be very interesting to carry out a
variable, the differences by gender disappear and the statistically longitudinal study.
significant differences by age remain. As indicated by Chaplin As mentioned above, emotional regulation can be considered
and Aldao (2013), the factors that modulate gender differences a transdiagnostic dimension. Since emotion regulation is a risk
in emotional regulation are age, interpersonal context and the factor for the development of future psychopathology, techniques
type of task in which they are observed. This suggests that aimed at developing adaptive emotion regulation skills should be
gender differences in the expression of emotions may not incorporated, both in treatment and in preventive interventions
be static and fixed traits in individuals, but are mediated by in childhood and adolescence. Our study highlights the adaptive
complex interactions with the environment and with individual and maladaptive strategies presented by children and adolescents
characteristics such as age. In this sense, the results found in and can indicate how to design prevention strategies and specific
this study, on the interaction between gender and age variables interventions according to gender and age.
in relation to the scores of the latent emotional regulation
variable, could support that gender differences in terms of
emotional regulation are dynamic and could be explained by DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
other variables such as age.
The datasets generated for this study are available on request to
With regard with latent emotional regulation factor scores’s
the corresponding author.
behavior, it was observed that girls obtain higher scores in
emotional regulation at age 9–12 than boys and these scores
decrease at age 13–16. This highlights the stage that is so ETHICS STATEMENT
vulnerable for girls at the emotional level at 13–16 years and
which becomes evident with the increasing frequency in these The studies involving human participants were reviewed and
ages of anxiety-depressive problems (Spence, 1998; Muris et al., approved by the Comité de Ética de la Investigación, Universidad
2000; Rodríguez de Kissack and Martínez-León, 2001; Orgilés Católica de Valencia (IRB #: UCV-2017-2018-05). Written
et al., 2012). informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the
Studies on emotional regulation tend to take into account participants’ legal guardian/next of kin.
age and gender separately, therefore, these results become more
relevant since they focus on the interaction between gender and
age, providing interesting information for a better understanding AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
of emotional regulation in children and adolescents, thus
All the authors have contributed jointly to the interpretation of
allowing the design of more specific intervention programs.
the data as well as to the writing and review of the manuscript in
order to obtain the final text.
Limitations and Implications
The study has clear limitations that must be taken into account
when interpreting and generalizing the results. One of the FUNDING
limitations of our study is given by the sample, future studies
should have a random sample with a greater number of centers This work was supported by Universidad Católica San Vicente
and subjects to ensure the representativeness of the results. Mártir; under grant UCV 2018-255-002.

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Zimmermann, P., and Iwanski, A. (2014). Emotion regulation Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the
from early adolescence to emerging adulthood and middle absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a
adulthood: age differences, gender differences, and emotion- potential conflict of interest.
specific developmental variations. Int. J. Behav. Dev. 38,
182–194. Copyright © 2020 Sanchis-Sanchis, Grau, Moliner and Morales-Murillo. This is an
Zlomke, K. R., and Hahn, K. S. (2010). Cognitive emotion regulation open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
strategies: gender differences and associations to worry. Pers. Individ. Dif. 48, License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted,
408–413. provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the
Zumbo, B. D., Gadermann, A. M., and Zeisser, C. (2007). Ordinal versions original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic
of coefficients alpha and theta for Likert rating scales. J. Mod. Appl. Stat. practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply
Methods 6:4. with these terms.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH

published: 26 May 2020

Effects of Age and Gender in

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Gendera Age Groupb

Emotion regulation 9–12 13–16

FEEL-KJ Emotion M (SD) F/t df1–df2 p η2 p/d M (SD) F/t df1–df2 p η2 p

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