Affective mentalization as beliefs about the controllability and usefulness of emotions Validation of a German language version of the Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire

Background: Instruments for the investigation of mentalization should consider and specify the multidimensionality of this construct. Indicative for the pole of affective mentalization is, on the one hand, a perceived controllability of emotions due to the understanding of one's own and others' emotions and on the other hand, a perceived usefulness of emotions due to the attributed meaningfulness of one's own and others' emotions. Perceived controllability and usefulness of positive and negative emotions are assessed with the 16 items of the English language Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ; Becerra et al. 2020) in a self-report.Objective: The aim of the present study was to develop a German language version of the EBQ as a survey instrument for affective mentalization ability and to determine its reliability and validity.Material and methods: A total of 104 psychotherapists in training and further education as well as students answered the German language EBQ, which we translated according to the translation guidelines of the European Social Survey, as part of an anonymous online survey. We conducted an exploratory factor analysis and determined internal consistencies and concurrent validities with respect to related constructs.Results: As in the original validation study, the EBQ shows a three-factorial structure and good internal consistency of alpha = 0,87 in the overall scale. Furthermore, associations between the perception of positive and negative emotions as uncontrollable and useless (high EBQ scores) and lower emotion regulation and higher psychopathological symptoms (concurrent validity) are evident.Conclusion: The findings are consistent with the results of the original validation study and suggest that the EBQ is also recommended in the German version. Theoretically justified and empirically tested (see online supplementary), the EBQ appears to be a suitable method for assessing affective mentalization.