Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES)

Abstract

The Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES) is a 32-item self-report instrument designed to measure an individual’s perceived ability to manage and utilize emotions effectively. Developed by Kirk, Schutte, and Hine (2008), the scale operationalizes the concept of emotional self-efficacy, which is the belief in one’s capacity to successfully execute the behaviors required to manage emotional states, both in oneself and in others. The ESES assesses confidence across key domains of emotional processing, including the identification, understanding, regulation, and utilization of emotions. Respondents rate their confidence on a 5-point Likert-type scale.

Keywords

emotional self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, emotion regulation, psychological assessment, affect, validity, reliability.

Authors

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

Purpose

The primary purpose of the ESES is to provide a reliable and valid measure of emotional self-efficacy. This measurement is crucial for understanding how an individual’s confidence in their emotional abilities impacts their behavior, coping mechanisms, and overall psychological well-being. Unlike measures of ability-based emotional intelligence, the ESES focuses purely on the strength of the individual’s belief system regarding those abilities.

The scale is used extensively in research settings to assess intervention outcomes, particularly those related to improving emotional competence, stress management, and workplace performance. It provides researchers with a practical tool for gauging perceived competence in handling complex emotional tasks, such as managing negative affect or using positive emotions to enhance problem-solving.

Construct

The ESES measures Emotional Self-Efficacy, a construct rooted in Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy theory. This specific application refers to the degree to which an individual believes they can successfully perform tasks related to emotional processing, including appraising, expressing, regulating, and utilizing emotions. The construct is often conceptualized as having both intrapersonal (self-management) and interpersonal (other-management) components.

Based on the underlying structure identified in validation studies, the construct typically encompasses four broad areas of emotional competence: Perceiving Emotions (identifying emotions in self and others); Understanding Emotions (knowing causes and consequences); Managing Emotions (regulating and changing emotional states); and Using Emotions (applying emotions to facilitate cognitive performance or problem-solving). The scale measures perceived competence in regulating emotions, using thoughts as supporter, and understanding and perceiving thoughts related to emotional states.

Validity

Preliminary validation studies conducted by Kirk, Schutte, and Hine (2008) established the scale’s initial construct validity through its strong theoretical alignment with established measures of emotional intelligence and related psychological constructs. Subsequent research has supported the measure’s validity, particularly its discriminant validity against general self-efficacy and its convergent validity with emotional competence and adjustment measures.

Dacre Pool and Qualter (2012a) further investigated the dimensional structure, confirming that the scale is a robust measure of perceived emotional competence. The instrument has been shown to be sensitive to change following interventions aimed at improving emotional skills, thereby demonstrating its criterion validity in applied settings (Dacre Pool & Qualter, 2012b).

Reliability

The ESES has generally demonstrated strong internal consistency across various samples, indicating high reliability. The original 2008 validation reported high Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, confirming that the 32 items reliably measure the underlying construct of emotional self-efficacy. Reliability estimates consistently meet or exceed the standard thresholds required for psychological research instruments, confirming its suitability for use in academic and applied contexts.

Factor Analysis

The initial development of the ESES utilized Factor Analysis to refine the item pool and establish the underlying structure. While the scale is often used as a single, unitary measure of overall emotional self-efficacy, early research suggested a multi-dimensional model, reflecting different facets of emotional processing (e.g., appraisal, regulation, utilization).

Dacre Pool and Qualter (2012a) performed subsequent confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses to clarify the dimensional structure of the ESES. Their findings generally supported a robust structure, though the exact number and composition of subscales can vary slightly depending on the population tested (e.g., adults versus adolescents, as studied by Qualter et al., 2014). Regardless of the specific sub-factor model, the scale consistently loads heavily onto a general second-order factor representing overall perceived emotional competence.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire measuring perceived competence (confidence).

Format: 32 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type confidence scale.

Language Available: Primarily English (validated in English-speaking countries).

Population Group: General population, employees, university students, and adolescents.

Age Group: Adolescents through adulthood.

Population Details: Has been validated across diverse groups, including employees undergoing intervention, university students, and young adolescents (Qualter et al., 2014).

Test Methodology: Respondents rate their confidence in performing each emotional task using the following scale: 1= Not At All Confident, 2= A Little Confident, 3= Moderately Confident, 4= Quite Confident, 5= Very Confident. Higher scores indicate greater perceived emotional self-efficacy.

Keywords

self-report measure, confidence, emotional regulation, appraisal, utilization of emotion, cognitive performance, psychological well-being.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source).

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source).

Correspondence Address: N/A (Information not provided in source).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original development and preliminary validation of the ESES occurred in 2008 by Kirk, Schutte, and Hine. The instrument appears to be widely available for academic and research purposes, though specific commercial licensing fees should be sought from the primary authors or publishers of the referenced academic journals. The original PDF describing the instrument and methodology 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