Overview
The DERS (Gratz & Roemer, 2004) is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 36 items that measures emotion dysregulation. The 36 items are divided into 6 factor-analytically-derived subscales. The subscales are 1. Nonacceptance of Negative Emotional Responses (a tendency toward negative secondary responses to negative emotions, and/or denial of distress), 2. Difficulties engaging in Goal-directed behaviour (problems concentrating and accomplishing tasks while experiencing negative emotions), 3. Impulse control difficulties (difficulty controlling impulsive behaviours when distressed), 4. Lack of emotional Awareness (inattention to emotional responses), 5.Limited access to emotion regulation Strategies (beliefs around a lack of ability to regulate emotions effectively after becoming upset). 6. Lack of emotional Clarity (extent to which individuals are unclear about which emotions they are experiencing). Several versions of the DERS exist including an 18 Item short form (DERS-SF). The DERS has been used with adolescents, however, it is predominantly validated and used in populations aged 18+.Scoring & Interpretation
Participants indicate their response to the items using a 5-point scale (1 Almost never [0-10%], Sometimes [11-35%], About half of the time [36-65%], Most of the time [66-90%] to 5 Almost always [91-100%]. Eleven items are reverse scored (items 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 10, 17, 20, 22, 24, and 34). Nonacceptance includes 6 Items (11,12,21,23,25,29), Goals includes 5 Items (13,18,20,26,33), Impulse includes 6 Items (3,14,19,24,27,32), Awareness has 6 Items (2,6,8 ,10,17,34), Strategies included 8 Items (15,16,22,28,30,31,35,36), Clarity includes 5 Items (1,5,7,9). Subscale items are summed to provide a score for each of the facets of emotion regulation. A total score can be computed by summing all items. Higher scores indicate greater difficulty with emotion regulation (greater emotion dysregulation).Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency
Internal consistency has been reported as good in both community and clincial adolescent samples. E.g., α range = .72 - .93 (Weinberg & Klonsky, 2009; Neumann et al., 2010). Perez et al (2012) α range .81-.92
Test-Retest Reliability
Test retest at 4-8 weeks range = .57 - .88; p<.01: (Gratz and Roemer, 2004)
Factor Structure
The original version of the measure (Gratz & Roemer, 2004) identified a six-factor structure in adults with a mean age of 23 years (SD=5.7). The six-factor structure has been replicated in non-clinical (Weinberg and Klonsky, 2009; Neumann et al.,2010), in-patient (Perez et al., 2012) and autistic adolescent (McVey et al., 2021) samples. Note: not all items load onto their respective subscales and the 'awareness' subscale has been found to perform consistently worse than the other subscales (e.g., Weinberg & Klonsky, 2009; Tull & Roemer, 2007).
Validity
Evidence of construct validity has been demonstrated between all subscales of the DERS, except Awareness, and measures of depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety (Weinberg & Klonsky, 2009). This pattern of findings was also replicated with measures of anxiety and depression by Neumann et al., (2010). DERS factors were meaningfully related to adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing problems in a community sample of adolescents (Neumann et al., 2010).
Measurement Invariance
Sousa et al., (2023) demonstrated gender invariance in a sample of Portugese adolescents.