Validation of the Chinese version of the Emotion Acceptance Questionnaire for Adolescent Students and Measurement Invariance Across Genders

Background: Emotional acceptance describes the willingness to actively embrace emotional experiences rather than suppress them. This concept is particularly relevant for Chinese adolescents, who are at a critical stage of emotional development and navigate a conflict between cultural norms favoring emotional suppression and modern mental health principles advocating for acceptance. Existing measures fail to independently assess acceptance of positive emotions. Although a four-dimensional Emotional Acceptance Questionnaire (EAQ) has been developed to assess acceptance and rejection of both pleasant and unpleasant emotions, its Western-cultural formulations may not suit Chinese adolescents. This study therefore adapted the EAQ into Chinese and evaluated its reliability, validity, and measurement invariance across genders in a middle school sample. Methods: Middle school students from Zhangzhou, Fuzhou, and Quanzhou were recruited as participants. Sample 1 ( n =169): Item analysis. Sample 2 ( n =302): Exploratory Factor Analysis, test-retest reliability (1-month interval). Sample 3 ( n =430): Confirmatory Factor Analysis, convergent/discriminant validity (Average Variance Extracted, Composite Reliability), criterion-related validity, reliability (McDonald's ω), and measurement invariance tests across genders. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 27.0, Mplus 8.3, and Amos 28. Results: Item analysis indicated satisfactory discrimination, with all item-total correlations between 0.237 and 0.819 and significant extreme-group comparisons ( p < 0.01). Exploratory factor analysis initially suggested 5 factors; after removing 3 underloading items, a 4-factor structure was confirmed, showing excellent fit (CFI = 0.990, TLI = 0.989, RMSEA = 0.028). Confirmatory factor analysis and cross-validation further supported this model (CFI = 0.990, TLI = 0.989, RMSEA = 0.028). Reliability was strong, with McDonald’s ω ranging 0.818–0.897 across dimensions and test-retest reliability 0.662–0.759. Criterion validity was supported by expected correlations with DERS and FFMQ-SF measures, where rejection of pleasant emotions positively correlated with emotion regulation difficulties ( r = 0.145–0.272) and negatively with mindfulness ( r = -0.135 to -0.200), while acceptance of pleasant emotions showed the opposite pattern. Full measurement invariance across genders was established (ΔCFI ≤ |0.006|), confirming cross-group equivalence. Conclusion: The revised Chinese version of the EAQ retains 22 items and demonstrates a robust four-dimensional structure with good reliability and validity. Possessing cultural appropriateness, it provides a reliable tool for assessing emotional acceptance among Chinese middle school students.