Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES)

Abstract

The Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES) is a psychological instrument designed to assess an individual’s perceived confidence in their ability to successfully manage, understand, and utilize both their own emotions and the emotions of others. Developed initially by Kirk, Schutte, and Hine in 2008, the scale consists of 32 items measured on a 5-point Likert scale. The ESES provides a measure of emotional competence based on the framework of self-efficacy theory, reflecting the belief in one’s capacity to execute behaviors required to produce desired emotional outcomes in various situations.

Keywords

emotional self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, emotion regulation, psychological assessment, self-confidence, emotional competence, affective traits, perceived ability.

Authors

Beverley A. Kirk, Nicola S. Schutte, Donald W. Hine

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES) is to quantify an individual’s self-assessment of their capabilities regarding emotional tasks. Unlike ability-based measures of emotional intelligence, the ESES focuses on perceived confidence—how sure a person is that they can perform specific actions related to emotional processing and management. This measure is crucial for research in organizational psychology, clinical settings, and educational domains, offering insight into motivational aspects of emotional functioning.

The scale aims to cover four main aspects of emotional management: the perception and identification of emotions, the understanding of emotional causes and consequences, the regulation of emotions in self and others, and the utilization of emotions to facilitate cognitive processes and decision-making. By capturing these facets, the ESES offers a comprehensive view of an individual’s emotional resources and coping confidence.

Construct

The ESES measures the construct of Emotional Self-Efficacy. This construct is defined as an individual’s belief in their capability to effectively deal with emotional challenges and utilize emotions constructively. It is rooted in Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, which posits that perceived efficacy influences the choices people make, the effort they expend, and their persistence in the face of obstacles.

Emotional self-efficacy is closely related to, yet distinct from, emotional intelligence (EI). While EI often refers to actual emotional abilities (measured by performance tests), ESES measures the confidence in those abilities. The items reflect behaviors associated with high emotional functioning, such as correctly identifying one’s own emotions, regulating affect under pressure, and using positive emotions to foster creativity or problem-solving.

Validity

Initial validation studies conducted by Kirk, Schutte, and Hine (2008) demonstrated preliminary evidence of the scale’s validity. The ESES showed appropriate convergent validity with existing measures of emotional intelligence and related constructs, such as affect intensity and trait anxiety, while maintaining discriminant validity from measures of general self-efficacy.

Subsequent research, such as that by Dacre Pool and Qualter (2012a), further investigated the dimensional structure, supporting the scale’s utility in measuring specific emotional competence facets. Studies adapting the scale for different populations, like young adolescents (Qualter et al., 2014), also provided cross-cultural and developmental validation, confirming that the scale accurately captures the intended construct of emotional self-efficacy across diverse groups.

Reliability

The ESES has generally demonstrated strong psychometric properties, specifically regarding its internal consistency. Across various studies, including the initial development and subsequent adaptations, the scale typically reports high internal consistency coefficients (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha values often exceeding .90).

This high level of reliability suggests that the 32 items consistently measure the same underlying construct—perceived emotional competence. Test-retest reliability has also been examined in certain studies, indicating stability of the measure over time, which is essential for assessing emotional traits rather than transient states.

Factor Analysis

The foundational factor analysis conducted during the development phase (Kirk, Schutte, & Hine, 2008) indicated that the ESES functions effectively as a cohesive, single-factor measure of overall emotional self-efficacy. However, the scale was designed to cover the four areas often associated with emotional intelligence models (perception, assimilation, understanding, and management).

Later analyses, particularly those focusing on the dimensional structure (Dacre Pool & Qualter, 2012a), explored multi-factor solutions. These studies often support the utility of subscales corresponding to the core components of emotional processing, though the overall scale retains high utility as a measure of generalized emotional self-efficacy. This flexibility allows researchers to use either the total score or derived subscores depending on their specific research focus.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychological Scale (Self-Report)

Format: 32 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale, assessing confidence levels.

Language Available: Primarily English; adaptations may exist in other languages based on subsequent research.

Population Group: General population, adults, employees, university students, and young adolescents (via adaptation).

Age Group: Adolescents through adulthood.

Population Details: The scale was initially validated on university students and later used extensively in employee and organizational contexts (Kirk et al., 2011). The adaptation by Qualter et al. (2014) extended its use to younger populations.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate their level of confidence for each statement using the following response scale: 1 = Not At All Confident, 2 = A Little Confident, 3 = Moderately Confident, 4 = Quite Confident, 5 = Very Confident. Higher scores indicate greater emotional self-efficacy.

Keywords

self-report inventory, emotional regulation, perceived competence, psychological measurement, confidence assessment, workplace incivility, expressive writing, strengths-based assessment.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: 2008 (Initial Development and Validation)

Permissions & Fee: The scale is frequently utilized in academic research. Users should consult the primary authors or Springer Publishing (for the version appearing in Simmons & Lehmann, 2013) regarding specific usage permissions and licensing fees for commercial or clinical applications.

The original PDF of the instrument, as referenced in the source content, can be downloaded here: http://wellnessforlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Bev-Kirk_Self-Efficacy-2014.pdf

Reference’s

• Kirk, B.A., Schutte, N.S., Hine, D.W. (2008). Development and preliminary validation of an emotional self-efficacy scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 45(5), 432–436.

• Kirk, B.A., Schutte, N.S., Hine, D.W. (2011). The Effect of an Expressive-Writing Intervention for Employees on Emotional Self-Efficacy, Emotional Intelligence, Affect, and Workplace Incivility. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(1), 179–195.

• Dacre Pool, L., & Qualter, P. (2012a). The dimensional structure of the Emotional Self Efficacy Scale (ESES). Australian Journal of Psychology, 64, 147–154. doi:10.1111/j.1742-9536.2011.00039.x

• Dacre Pool, L., & Qualter, P. (2012b). Improving emotional intelligence and emotional self-efficacy through a teaching intervention for university students. Learning and Individual Differences, 22, 306-312. doi: 10.1016/j.lindif.2012.01.010

• Kirk, Schutte, & Hine, (2008). Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale. In: Simmons C. A., Lehmann P. (eds). Tools for strengths-based assessment and evaluation, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 306-308. (2013).

• Qualter, P., Dacre Pool, L., Gardner, K.J., Ashley-Kot, S., Wise, A., and Wols, A. (2014). The Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale: Adaptation and validation for young adolescents. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 33, 33-45.

Items of the Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Correctly identify your own negative emotions
2. Help another person change a negative emotion to a positive emotion
3. cr‎eate a positive emotion when feeling a negative emotion
4. Know what causes you to feel a positive emotion
5. Correctly identify when another person is feeling a negative emotion
6. Use positive emotions to generate novel solutions to old problems
7. Realize what causes another person to feel a positive emotion
8. Change your negative emotion to a positive emotion
9. Correctly identify your own positive emotions
10. Generate in yourself the emotion another person is feeling
11. Know what causes you to feel a negative emotion
12. Regulate your own emotions when under pressure
13. Correctly identify when another person is feeling a positive emotion
14. Get into a mood that best suits the occasion
15. Realize what causes another person to feel a negative emotion
16. Help another person to regulate emotions when under pressure
17. Notice the emotion your body language is portraying
18. Use positive emotions to generate good ideas
19. Understand what causes your emotions to change
20. Calm down when feeling angry
21. Notice the emotion another person’s body language is portraying
22. cr‎eate emotions to enhance cognitive performance
23. Understand what causes another person’s emotions to change
24. Help another person calm down when he or she is feeling angry
25. Recognize what emotion you are communicating through your facial expression
26. cr‎eate emotions to enhance physical performance
27. Figure out what causes you to feel differing emotions
28. Regulate your own emotions when close to reaching a goal
29. Recognize what emotion another person is communicating through his or her facial expression
30. Generate the right emotion so that creative ideas can unfold
31. Figure out what causes another person’s differing emotions
32. Help another person regulate emotions after he or she has suffered a loss