The psychometric properties of the self-expression and emotion regulation in art making scale (SERAMS) in Chinese university students majoring in art and design

AimTranslating the Self-Expression and Emotion Regulation in Art Therapy Scale (SERATS) into Chinese and adapting it for use by Chinese university students majoring in art and design.MethodsAfter translating the SERATS into Chinese, we adapted it to the Self-Expression and Emotion Regulation in Art Making Scale (SERAMS). A total of 209 university students majoring in art and design were recruited to examine the reliability and validity of the scores derived from the SERAMS; of these participants, 121 were retested 2 weeks later. Another 200 university students majoring in art and design were selected to perform Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).ResultsThe SERAMS is unidimensional and consists of nine items. The explained variance of SERAMS is 51.124%. CFA validated that the one-factor model fit with the data of SERAMS. Standardized factor loadings ranged between 0.688 and 0.733. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of SERAMS was 0.880. Correlation analysis was performed between SERAMS and The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) to calculate the criterion-related validity (r = 0.571 p < 0.001). The Pearson correlation coefficient for SERAMS’ test, retest reliability was r = 0.889 (p < 0.001). SERAMS’s split-half reliability was 0.875 (Spearman-Brown coefficient).ConclusionSERAMS has relatively good reliability and validity. It can be used to assess the self-expression and emotion regulation abilities of Chinese university students majoring in art and design.