This study is aimed at both describing the steps of construction of a qualitative instrument to investigate the emotional regulation strategies of Brazilian students, and reporting preliminary results. The sample was composed of 54 third and fourth grade basic education students of a public school in Campinas. The instrument consists of a 24 interview questions grouped into four emotions: sadness, anger, fear and happiness. It also includes eight boards with pictures of children expressing each of the emotions investigated. Students' answers to interview questions were studied through content analysis. A system of categories was developed for each question and the reliability of the coding procedures was evaluated by two independent raters. The percentage of agreement between them was acceptable. The results showed that engagement in pleasant activities was the most frequent strategy to deal with sadness, anger, fear and to keep happiness. Future studies employing this instrument should be carried out to better refine it.
Emotional regulation strategies; qualitative instrument; basic education
