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Emotion Regulation: Sadness
Chapter 111: Methodology
Adolescents' self-reports of specific behaviorally oriented emotion regulation of sadness
were assessed via the Children's Sadness Management Scale (CSMS) (Zeman et al., 2001; see
Appendix L1-2). The CSMS consists of three subscales: Sadness Inhibition, Sadness
Dysregulated Expression, and Sadness Regulation Coping (Penza-Clyve & Zeman, 2002; Zeman
et al.,, 2001; Zeman et al., 2002). Sadness Inhibition (four items) assesses sadness being turned
inwards, or masking or suppressing emotional expression of sadness (e.g., "I hide my sadness").
Sadness Dysregulated Expression (three items) reflects the outward expression of sadness in
culturally dysregulated manner (e.g., "I whine/fuss about what's making me sad"). Sadness
Regulation Coping (five items) includes strategies for coping with sadness in a constructive
manner (e.g., "I try to calmly deal with what is making me feel sad") (Penza-Clyve & Zeman,
2002; Zeman, Cassano, et al., 2006; Zeman, Shipman, & Penza-Clyve, 2001; Zeman, Shipman,
& Suveg, 2002). Responses are rated on a 3-point scale (1 = "hardly ever true," 2 = "sometimes
true," 3 = "often true"). Although, the CSMS was developed for children aged 9 to 12, the
measure has been used successfully with adolescents 14 years and older (Sim, Zeman, & Nesin,
1999; Zeman et al., 2001). Higher scores on these subscales reflect higher levels of sadness
inhibition, sadness dysregulated expression, and sadness regulation coping. These three
subscales of the CSMS have been separately implemented in a number of studies to address their
specific regulation of sadness (J. L. Zeman, personal communication, March, 6, 2007; Suveg &
Zeman, 2004; Zeman et al., 2002). For the present study, the three subscales were utilized
separately to address the participants' specific emotion regulation of sadness.
Coefficient alphas for the three sadness regulation subscales have ranged from .62 to .77
and test-retest reliability spanned from .61 to .80 (Suveg & Zeman, 2004; Zeman et al., 2001).
Cronbach's alphas for subscales in this study were .29 for Sadness Dysregulated Expression, .80
for Sadness Inhibition, and .53 for Sadness Regulation Coping. Subscales with Cronbach's
alphas below .50 were not used in further analyses in the present study (J. L. Zeman, personal
communication, March 6, 2007).
Previous research indicates convergent validity with the Affect Regulation Interview
(ARI) (Zeman & Garber, 1996; Zeman & Shipman, 1997) and the Sadness Inhibition subscale
are significantly and positively correlated with self-reports of sadness, indicating that the
Sadness Inhibition subscale can distinguish somewhat between regulation of specific emotions
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