Perceived self-efficacy beliefs to expressing positive emotion in adolescents: A validation study of the Perceived Self-Efficacy in managing Positive Affects Questionnaire (PSEMPAQ)

Presentation 2 Perceived self-efficacy beliefs of expressing positive emotion in adolescents: A validation study of the Perceived Self-Efficacy in managing Positive Affects Questionnaire (PSEMPAQ). Vecchio, Giovanni Maria, 1 Milioni, Michela, 1 Perucchini, Paola, 1 Caprara, Gian Vittorio, 2 1 University of Roma Tre 2 Sapienza University of Rome The aim of the present study is to examine the psychometric properties of a new scale of self-efficacy beliefs to expressing positive emotion in adolescents, previously investigated by Gerbino and colleagues (2015) in young adults. In particular, the PSEMPAQ includes two subscales of expression and two subscales of coping: the expression of affect and expression of pride, the use of positive memories, and the use of humor to cope with stressful life events. To this aim, the factorial structure, the invariance across gender and across school grade, and the construct validity were tested. Participants were 360 students (58% females). Most of these participants (n=232; Mage=16,8) attending the upper secondary school. EFA and CFA confirmed the four hypothesized factors. There was partial invariance at scalar levels both across gender and school grade. Hierarchical multiple regression showed a discriminative ability of the four scales with specific emotional states measured by PANAS-X (Watson & Clark, 1999)