Overview
The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale – Short Form (DERS-SF) is an 18-item abbreviated version of the original 36-item DERS developed by Kaufman et al., (2016). It assesses six domains of emotion dysregulation: 1. Nonacceptance of emotional responses; 2. Difficulties engaging in goal-directed behaviour; 3. Impulse control difficulties; 4. Lack of emotional awareness; 5. Limited access to emotion regulation strategies; 6. Lack of emotional clarity.Scoring & Interpretation
Each of the six subscales includes three items. Each Item is scores on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (Almost Never) to 5 (Almost Always). Scales can be scored using sums or averages of items. If comparisons to the original DERS questionnaire, using averages is advised. Note that all three items in the Awareness scale should be reverse coded. A total score can also be calculated using all 18 items. Higher scores indicate greater emotion dysregulation.Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency
Cronbach alpha (adolescent sample) for the subscales and total score are reported to be excellent, with the subscales ranging from α = .84 (Awareness) to α =.92 (strategies, nonacceptance) and the total score α = .95 (Kaufman et al 2016).
Test-Retest Reliability
Test-retest reliability was not measured in the original DERS-SF validation study in an adolescent sample. In a study using a French language version of the DERS-SF in adolescents aged 14-18 years, test-retest reliability was found to be moderate to good (Perez-Pena & Philippot, 2025).
Factor Structure
Kaufman et al (2016) in the initial validation studies showed that the abbreviated measure reproduced the same six-factor structure as the full DERS with acceptable-to-good model fit. Subsequent research has also confirmed the multi-factorial structure of the DERS-SF (e.g., Bhat et al., 2025; Macinelli et al., 2024; Perez-Pena & Philippot, 2025).
Validity
Convergent validity: significant medium to strong negative correlations between all sub-scales of the F-DERS-SF and mindfulness skills as measured by the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). Medium to strong positive correlations between most sub-scales of the F-DERS-SF and depression, anxiety, stress, and emotional distress as measured by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The Awareness subscale did not correlate with anxiety, stress, or emotional distress (Perez-Pena & Philippot, 2025).
Measurement Invariance
Full measurement invariance (configural, metric, scalar) for gender was demonstrated by Bhat et al (2025) using the English version of the DERS-SF in a sample of Indian adolescents aged 14-20 years.