Investigating the persian-version psychometric properties of the emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ) and social skills among children and adolescents who suffer from autism spectrum disorder (SPD)

Introduction: One of the most common problems among children and adolescents who suffer from SPD is having a deficiency in interpersonal relationships. Aim: The current study aims to investigate the Persian version of psychometric properties of the ERQ and social skills among children and adolescents who suffer from SPD. Method: This study was applied and developmental in terms of aim and psychometric type, respectively. The population included all the patients with SPD in Tehran city in 2020-2021, from which 222 children and adolescents with SPD were selected by available sampling. Three scales of Emotion Regulation and Social Skills (2015), Social Interaction (2003), and Social Skills (1983) were used to collect the data. Besides, mean, standard deviation (SD), exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, convergent validity, divergent validity, and SPSS-24 and AMOS-19 were run to analyze the data. Results: The result of factor analysis confirmed that the questionnaire is single-factor and explained 0.54 of that. The reliability was checked via Cronbach’s alpha for the total questionnaire (0.97), and the convergent validity of the parents’ form of this questionnaire was checked by social skill (0.63) and social interaction (0.49). This indicated the criterion and concurrent validity of this questionnaire. Conclusion: The results of this study showed the efficiency of psychometric properties of ERQ and interaction skills, considering the diagnosis of emotional and social features of SPD children. Future studies can use this measure for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes among patients with SPD.