The Role of Self-Efficacy in Interpersonal Emotion Regulation: Scale Adaptation and Ecological Validity

Emotion regulation (ER) is a process that involves the modulation of emotional experiences and expressions. Recently, ER has been recognized as an interpersonal phenomenon with individuals frequently attempting to alter the affective states of others through interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) processes. IER involves helping others manage their emotions through social interaction and is fundamental for adaptive social functioning and prosocial behavior. Such regulation requires not only competence but also the belief in one’s ability to help others regulate their emotional states, which is referred to as interpersonal regulatory emotional self-efficacy (IRESE). While self-efficacy is well studied in intrapersonal emotion regulation, its role in interpersonal contexts remains underexplored. The aim of this study was to adapt Caprara’s and colleagues Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy scale (RESE), originally designed to assess self-efficacy in the management of one’s own emotions, to the interpersonal domain. This adaptation retained the two core subdimensions of the original scale: self-efficacy in helping others express positive emotions (EPE) and self-efficacy in managing others’ negative emotions (MNE). We assessed both concurrent and predictive validity of the measure and explored how efficacy beliefs influence the regulation of others’ emotions in daily life. A total of 160 adults (aged 18-85; 72.9% women) completed an online baseline questionnaire, followed by brief assessments three times daily over a 28-day period. The concurrent validity of the IRESE scale was assessed through confirmatory factor analysis and correlations with related measures (EROS, IRI, PESE, PANAS), revealing significant associations in the expected directions (rs = -.24 – .54, ps < .01). Predictive validity was assessed using Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling (DSEM), and it showed that higher baseline levels of efficacy in managing others’ negative emotions (MNE) predicted greater interpersonal affect improvement (â = .238, 95% CI [.075, .414]), while higher efficacy in helping others express positive emotions (EPE) predicted higher levels of empathic concern (â = .294, 95% CI [.123, .439]) in repeated ecological assessments. These findings highlight the central role of IRESE as a mechanism underpinning effective emotional support and empathic responding in daily life.