Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory (PERCI): Copy of questionnaire and scoring instructions

Abstract

Freely available for use. The Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory (PERCI) is a 32-item self-report measure of emotion regulation ability. The PERCI measures people’s ability to modify the experiential and behavioral manifestations of their emotions, as well as people’s ability to know when it is appropriate to activate a goal to regulate their emotions in the first place. It assesses these aspects of emotion regulation ability for both negative and positive emotions. Copyright Preece, Becerra, Robinson, Dandy and Allan (2018).

Full text

Strongly
disagree ---- ----
Neither
agree
nor
disagree
---- ---- Strongly
agree
1
When I’m feeling bad (feeling an unpleasant
emotion), I don’t know what to do to feel
better.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 When I’m feeling bad, those feelings stop me
from getting work done. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3 When I’m feeling bad, I do stupid things. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 When I’m feeling bad, I believe I need to get rid
of those feelings at all costs. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5 When I’m feeling bad, I’m powerless to change
how I’m feeling. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 When I’m feeling bad, I can’t complete tasks
that I’m meant to be doing. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 When I’m feeling bad, my behavior becomes
out of control. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 When I’m feeling bad, I can’t allow those
feelings to be there. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9
When I’m feeling bad, I don’t have many
strategies (e.g., activities or techniques) to help
get rid of that feeling.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
10 When I’m feeling bad, I can’t get motivated to
do important things (work, chores, school etc.). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
11 When I’m feeling bad, I have trouble controlling
my actions. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
12 When I’m feeling bad, I must try to totally
eliminate those feelings. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13 When I’m feeling bad, I have no control over
the strength and duration of that feeling. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
14 When I’m feeling bad, I have trouble getting
anything done. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
15 When I’m feeling bad, I have strong urges to do
risky things. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
16 When I’m feeling bad, I believe those feelings
are unacceptable. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
This questionnaire asks about how you manage and respond to your emotions. Please score the
following statements according to how much you agree or disagree that the statement is true of
you. Circle one answer for each statement.
The first half of the questionnaire asks about bad or unpleasant emotions, this means emotions like
sadness, anger, or fear. The second half asks about good or pleasant emotions, this means emotions
like happiness, amusement, or excitement.
PERCI
Name: Date:

Strongly
disagree ---- ----
Neither
agree
nor
disagree
---- ---- Strongly
agree
17 When I’m feeling good (feeling a pleasant
emotion), I do stupid things. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
18
When I’m feeling good, I don’t have many
strategies (e.g., activities or techniques) to
increase the strength of that feeling.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
19 When I’m feeling good, I have trouble
completing tasks that I’m meant to be doing. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
20 When I’m feeling good, part of me hates those
feelings. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
21 When I’m feeling good, my behavior becomes
out of control. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
22 I don’t know what to do to create pleasant
feelings in myself. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
23 When I’m feeling good, I end up neglecting my
responsibilities (work, chores, school etc.). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
24 When I’m feeling good, I can’t allow those
feelings to be there. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
25 When I’m feeling good, I have strong urges to
do risky things. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
26 When I’m feeling good, I have no control over
whether that feeling stays or goes. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
27
When I’m feeling good, I have difficulty staying
focused during important stuff (at work or
school, etc.).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
28 When I’m feeling good, I believe those feelings
are unacceptable. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
29 When I’m feeling good, I can’t keep control over
myself (in terms of my behaviors). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
30 When I’m feeling good, I don’t have any useful
ways to help myself keep feeling that way. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
31 When I’m feeling good, I have trouble getting
anything done. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
32 When I’m feeling good, I must try to eliminate
those feelings. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
© Preece, Becerra, Robinson, Dandy & Allan (2018)

Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory (PERCI) – Scoring Instructions
Emotions manifest as responses across three channels of the emotion system: the experiential (e.g.,
feeling of fear), behavioral (e.g., urge to run), and physiological channels (e.g., increased heart rate).
Emotions can be positively valenced, like happiness and amusement, or negatively valenced, like
sadness and anger. Emotion regulation is defined in the process model of emotion regulation as “the
activation of a goal to modify an unfolding emotional response” (Gross, 2015, p. 130). Applied to the
three channels of the emotion system, people’s ability to regulate their emotions therefore refers to
their ability to: successfully modify the trajectory of emotions with respect to their (1) experiential, (2)
behavioral and (3) physiological manifestations, and (4) know when it is appropriate to activate a goal
to modify emotions in the first place.
The PERCI (Preece et al., 2018) is a 32 item self-report measure of people’s ability to regulate their own
emotions. It assesses most of the components of the emotion regulation construct and does so for both
negative and positive emotions. The PERCI measures people’s ability to modify the experiential and
behavioral manifestations of their emotions, as well as people’s ability to know when it is appropriate to
activate a goal to regulate their emotions in the first place (i.e., being able to tolerate emotions).
The PERCI features eight subscales designed to assess different aspects of emotion regulation ability.
Four subscales correspond to the regulation of negative emotions, and four correspond to the
regulation of positive emotions. The emotional valence of each subscale is denoted in its name via the
prefix “Negative” or “Positive”. These PERCI subscales can, moreover, be combined into several
theoretically meaningful composite scores.
The table on the following page describes each of the PERCI subscale and composite scores and how to
calculate them. We have also created an Excel ‘auto-scorer’ spreadsheet that assists with the scoring of
the PERCI. A copy of the Excel auto-scorer can be downloaded here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329058432. This Excel spreadsheet also includes some
normative data to assist with the interpretation of PERCI scores. Our plan is to continue to update this
Excel auto-scorer as new normative data become available.

Subscale/composite
How to calculate
Content measured
Subscales
Negative-Controlling experience
Sum items 1, 5, 9, 13
Difficulties controlling (down-regulating) the experiential manifestations of negative emotions;
e.g., “When I’m feeling bad, I don’t know what to do to feel better”.
Negative-Inhibiting behavior
Sum items 3, 7, 11, 15
Difficulties controlling the behavioral manifestations of negative emotions in terms of inhibiting
dominant behavioral response tendencies when experiencing negative emotions; e.g., “When
I’m feeling bad, I have trouble controlling my actions”.
Negative-Activating behavior
Sum items 2, 6, 10, 14
Difficulties controlling the behavioral manifestations of negative emotions in terms of activating
non-dominant behavioral response tendencies when experiencing negative emotions; e.g.,
“When I’m feeling bad, I can’t get motivated to do important things (work, chores, school
etc.)”.
Negative-Tolerating emotions
Sum items 4, 8, 12, 16
Difficulties tolerating negative emotions, and therefore difficulty knowing when it is
appropriate to activate a goal to regulate these emotions; e.g., “When I’m feeling bad, I must
try to totally eliminate those feelings”.
Positive-Controlling experience
Sum items 18, 22, 26, 30
Difficulties controlling (up-regulating) the experiential manifestations of positive emotions; e.g.,
“I don’t know what to do to create pleasant feelings in myself”.
Positive-Inhibiting behavior
Sum items 17, 21, 25, 29
Difficulties controlling the behavioral manifestations of positive emotions in terms of inhibiting
dominant behavioral response tendencies when experiencing positive emotions; e.g., “When
I’m feeling good, I can’t keep control over myself (in terms of my behaviors)”.
Positive-Activating behavior
Sum items 19, 23, 27, 31
Difficulties controlling the behavioral manifestations of positive emotions in terms of activating
non-dominant behavioral response tendencies when experiencing positive emotions; e.g.,
“When I’m feeling good, I have trouble completing tasks that I’m meant to be doing”.
Positive-Tolerating emotions
Sum items 20, 24, 28, 32
Difficulties tolerating positive emotions, and hence difficulty knowing when it is appropriate to
activate a goal to regulate these emotions; e.g., “When I’m feeling good, I believe those feelings
are unacceptable”.
Composites
Negative-Emotion regulation
Sum all 4 negative subscales
Overall level of difficulty regulating negative emotions.
Positive-Emotion regulation
Sum all 4 positive subscales
Overall level of difficulty regulating positive emotions.
General-Facilitating hedonic
goals
Sum all 4 negative subscales
and the Positive-Controlling
experience subscale
Overall level of difficulty down-regulating negative emotions and up-regulating positive
emotions (i.e., obtaining pleasure and avoiding pain).
Positive-Containing emotions
Sum the Positive-Inhibiting
behavior, Positive-Activating
behavior, and Positive-
Tolerating emotions subscales.
Overall level of difficulty down-regulating (i.e., containing) positive emotions.
General-Emotion regulation
Sum all 8 subscales
Overall level of difficulty regulating negative and positive emotions.

PERCI Descriptive Statistics
Some descriptive statistics and Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients from an Australian adult nonclinical
sample (N = 1175; Preece et al., 2018) are provided in the table below.
Total sample (N = 1175) Females (69.4%) Males (30.6%)
Subscale/composite
M
SD
Cronbach's α
M
SD
M
SD
Subscales
Negative-Controlling experience 13.74 6.2 0.88
13.93 6.32
13.3 5.91
Negative-Inhibiting behavior 12.04 6.49 0.9
12.27 6.51
11.52 6.43
Negative-Activating behavior 16.1 6.97 0.94
16.81 6.9
14.5 6.86
Negative-Tolerating emotions 15.21 5.69 0.85
14.89 5.81
15.95 5.34
Positive-Controlling experience
12.36
5.77
0.84
12.21
5.92
12.7
5.4
Positive-Inhibiting behavior 8.33 4.73 0.86
7.92 4.56
9.25 4.98
Positive-Activating behavior 8.55 4.77 0.89
8.41 4.78
8.85 4.73
Positive-Tolerating emotions 7.07 4.44 0.87
6.77 4.41
7.77 4.42
Composites
Negative-Emotion regulation
57.09
20.43
0.93
57.9
20.88
55.26
19.27
Positive-Emotion regulation
36.31
16.01
0.92
35.31
15.98
38.57
15.87
General-Facilitating hedonic goals
69.45
24.25
0.94
70.11
24.95
67.96
22.53
Positive-Containing emotions
23.95
12.16
0.93
23.1
11.97
25.87
12.38
General-Emotion regulation
93.4 32.21 0.95
93.21 32.66
93.83 31.2
Score Interpretations
To interpret PERCI scores we recommend that a respondent’s score be compared to scores from an appropriate
normative sample. The number of standard deviations (SDs) a respondent’s score is from the mean of an
appropriate normative sample indicates the degree of emotion regulation difficulties. We interpret PERCI scores
in the following way, keeping in mind that higher scores indicate a higher level of emotion regulation difficulties
(i.e., lower emotion regulation ability):
• Scores 1SD or more above the mean = “low ability” or “high level of difficulties”
• Scores less than 1SD from the mean = “average ability” or “average level of difficulties”
• Scores 1SD or more below the mean = “high ability” or “low level of difficulties”
Contacts
If you have any questions or comments about the PERCI, or would like to collaborate with us on some research,
please feel free to contact us: Dr David Preece (david.preece@curtin.edu.au), Associate Professor Rodrigo Becerra
(rodrigo.becerra@uwa.edu.au), Dr Ken Robinson (k.robinson@ecu.edu.au), Associate Professor Justine Dandy
(j.dandy@ecu.edu.au), Professor Alfred Allan (a.allan@ecu.edu.au).
References
Gross, J. J. (2015). The extended process model of emotion regulation: Elaborations, applications, and future
directions. Psychological Inquiry, 26, 130-137.
Preece, D. A., Becerra, R., Robinson, K., Dandy, J., & Allan, A. (2018). Measuring emotion regulation ability across
negative and positive emotions: The Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory (PERCI). Personality
and Individual Differences, 135, 229-241.