title: Emotional Arousal and Regulation: Further Evidence of the Validity of the "How I Feel" Questionnaire for Use With School-Age Children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The ability to understand and manage emotional experience is critical to children's health. This study confirmed the validity of the How I Feel (HIF) Questionnaire, a measure of children's emotional arousal and regulation, exploring its associations with measures of emotional and social functioning.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample was comprised of 1379 Italian students (aged 8 to 12 years) who attended schools interested in the study aims. Participants completed the 30-item HIF scale, and measures of emotional self-efficacy and social desirability (SD). Factor structures were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Invariance by age and gender, internal consistency, temporal stability, and concurrent validity were also tested.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A 3-factor model was identified: frequency and intensity of (1) positive emotion--PE (8 items, α = .82), (2) negative emotion--NE (12 items, α = .86), and (3) positive and negative emotion control--EC (10 items, α = .77). This factor structure was invariant across age and gender groups. The HIF displayed moderate longitudinal stability over a 15-month period and a low social desirability effect. Positive emotion was positively associated with social acceptance and visibility, and negatively with social withdrawal.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HIF is a reliable and valid measure for research and school intervention promoting students' emotional and mental health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence, Via di San Salvi, 12 Complesso di San Salvi Padiglione 26, 50135 Florence, Italy. enrica.ciucci@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Enrica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ciucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Via di San Salvi, 12 Complesso di San Salvi Padiglione 26, 50135 Florence, Italy. a.baroncelli@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baroncelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences 'R. Massa', University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milan, Italy. ilaria.grazzani@unimib.it.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grazzani
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences 'R. Massa', University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126 Milan, Italy. veronica.ornaghi1@unimib.it.
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ornaghi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo Nuovo, 1, 20126, Milan, Italy. claudia.caprin@unimib.it.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caprin
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001143:Arousal; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D010379:Peer Group; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors; D012928:Social Desirability; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
keywords: child and adolescent health; emotional health; instruments; youth social functioning