Self-Assessment
Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ)
Discover which thinking strategies you use to cope with stress and negative events. This assessment measures 9 cognitive coping strategies identified in research by Garnefski et al.
Inspired by CERQ research. Not the official CERQ.What to expect: You will see 36 short statements about how people think after stressful or negative events.
For each statement, rate how often you think that way: from "Almost never" (1) to "Almost always" (5).
There are no right or wrong answers. Go with your first instinct.
Think about how you typically respond when something stressful or negative happens.
Research Background
From the Research
"The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) is a multidimensional questionnaire constructed to identify the cognitive emotion regulation strategies someone uses after experiencing negative events or situations."
— Garnefski, N., Kraaij, V., & Spinhoven, P. (2001). Negative life events, cognitive emotion regulation and emotional problems . Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 1311-1327.
Psychometric Evidence
"Cronbach's α reliabilities of the subscales ranged from .75 to .87. Test-retest (1-year) reliabilities ranged from .48 to .65, indicating adequate stability of the cognitive strategies over time."
— Garnefski, N. & Kraaij, V. (2007). The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire: Psychometric features and prospective relationships with depression and anxiety in adults . European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 23(3), 141-149.
The CERQ has been validated in over 10 languages and across multiple age groups. A cross-cultural study of six European countries found that the relationships between coping strategies and mental health are consistent internationally.
Potthoff et al. (2016). Cognitive emotion regulation and psychopathology across cultures. Personality and Individual Differences, 98, 218-224.
The CERQ measures nine distinct ways people think after negative events. Research groups these into strategies that generally support recovery (adaptive) and those linked to prolonged distress (less helpful).
Self-Blame
Turning the blame inward for what happened.
Less helpfulAcceptance
Coming to terms with what has occurred.
AdaptiveRumination
Dwelling on feelings and thoughts about the event.
Less helpfulPositive Refocusing
Shifting attention to pleasant, unrelated thoughts.
AdaptivePlanning
Thinking about steps to handle the problem.
AdaptivePositive Reappraisal
Finding growth or meaning in what happened.
AdaptivePutting into Perspective
Comparing with worse scenarios to reduce severity.
AdaptiveCatastrophizing
Viewing the event as extremely terrible or unbearable.
Less helpfulOther-Blame
Placing responsibility on other people.
Less helpfulResearch consistently shows that people who use more adaptive strategies (planning, positive reappraisal) report fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety. Those who frequently use self-blame, rumination, or catastrophizing tend to report more emotional difficulties.
How We Built This Assessment
This assessment is a research-inspired adaptation of the CERQ framework developed by Garnefski, Kraaij, and Spinhoven. We used the same nine cognitive strategy dimensions and the same 5-point frequency scale, but wrote our own item wording to respect the original authors' intellectual property.
Sources we drew from:
- The original CERQ framework (Garnefski et al., 2001) for the nine strategy definitions.
- The CERQ-Short validation study (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2006) for identifying key items per factor.
- Normative data from Garnefski & Kraaij (2007) for score interpretation benchmarks.
- Research literature definitions of each strategy to guide our adapted wording.
Our item wording captures the essence of each original item but uses different phrasing. This maintains conceptual fidelity while keeping us clear of copyright restrictions. Scoring follows the same logic: sum the four items per subscale for a score of 4-20.
Important: Because this is an adaptation, our version has not been formally validated in a peer-reviewed study. The interpretations rely on published CERQ norms and should be treated as approximate. This is not the official CERQ instrument.
Related Assessments
Several other tools on our site explore related aspects of emotional health:
- Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) measures problems with emotion regulation (awareness, clarity, impulse control). The CERQ is different: it focuses specifically on the cognitive strategies people use, not the difficulties they face.
- Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) by Gross & John measures just two strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression). The CERQ is more granular, covering nine distinct strategies.
- Perceived Stress Scale measures your overall stress level, while the CERQ tells you how you think about that stress.
How People Typically Score
Average scores from a general adult population (N=611). Garnefski & Kraaij, 2007.
Scores range from 4 (minimum) to 20 (maximum) per strategy. Green bars = adaptive strategies. Orange bars = less helpful strategies.
About This Assessment
This tool is a research-inspired self-reflection exercise. It is not the official CERQ and is not intended for clinical diagnosis.
The official Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) was developed by Garnefski, Kraaij, and Spinhoven and is published by DATEC. The original item wording is copyrighted and requires permission for use. This tool uses our own adapted wording that captures the same nine constructs without reproducing the original text. We are not affiliated with the CERQ authors or publisher.
This is an educational self-reflection tool, not a diagnostic instrument. High scores on any strategy do not indicate a mental health condition. The scoring benchmarks come from published normative data (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2007) and are approximate. If your results cause concern, please speak with a qualified mental health professional.
Garnefski, N., Kraaij, V., & Spinhoven, P. (2001). Negative life events, cognitive emotion regulation and emotional problems. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 1311-1327.
Garnefski, N. & Kraaij, V. (2006). CERQ-short development. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 1045-1053.
Garnefski, N. & Kraaij, V. (2007). Psychometric features of the CERQ. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 23(3), 141-149.
Potthoff, S. et al. (2016). Cognitive emotion regulation across cultures. Personality and Individual Differences, 98, 218-224.