Psychometric Properties of Turkish Version of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Brief Form (DERS-16)

Psychometric Properties of the Brief Persian Version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (The DERS-16)

“…The DERS-16 was designed to measure five of the six original factors captured by the original DERS: (1) nonacceptance of negative emotions (three items), (2) inability to engage in goal-directed behaviors when distressed (three items), (3) difficulties controlling impulsive behaviors when distressed (three items), (4) limited access to emotion regulation strategies perceived as effective (five items), and (5) lack of emotional clarity (two items). This factor structure has been confirmed in four studies (Hallion et al, 2018; Miguel et al, 2017; Westerlund & Santtila, 2018; Yiğit & Yiğit, 2017). Total scores on the DERS-16 can range from 16 to 80, with higher scores reflecting greater levels of emotion dysregulation.…”

“…Results demonstrated that the DERS-16 was not only time-saving (administration time was 138.99 vs. 328.51 s) but also comparable with the original 36 item DERS in terms of convergent and discriminant validity and had retained excellent internal consistency (α = .92–.94) and good test–retest reliability (ρ I = .85, p < .001; Bjureberg et al, 2016). These findings have been replicated in four studies, providing further evidence of convergent (e.g., with measures of emotion regulation, alexithymia, empathy, maladaptive personality traits) and discriminant validity (e.g., with cognitive tasks) for the DERS-16 (Hallion et al, 2018; Miguel et al, 2017; Westerlund & Santtila, 2018; Yiğit & Yiğit, 2017). Interestingly, these studies also confirmed the factor structure identified in the original 36 item DERS (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), except for the Awareness factor that was intentionally excluded from the DERS-16 due to low item-total correlations ( r < .50; Bjureberg et al, 2016), consistent with previous findings (Bardeen et al, 2012; Fowler et al, 2014; Hallion et al, 2018; Miguel et al, 2017).…”

“…Results confirm that the Persian DERS-16 may be a valid and reliable multidimensional self-report measure of emotion regulation difficulties. Although the DERS-16 has been successfully cross-validated in Brazil (Miguel et al, 2017), Turkey (Yiğit & Yiğit, 2017), Sweden (Bjureberg et al, 2016), and Finland (Westerlund & Santtila, 2018), this is the first study that examines the DERS-16 in an Iranian population.…”

“…Items are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale from 1 ( almost never ) to 5 ( almost always ), indicating how often each statement applied to the respondent. The DERS-16 has been shown to have excellent internal consistency (α = .92-.94; Bjureberg et al, 2016), good test–retest reliability (ρ I = .85; p < .001; Bjureberg et al, 2016), and good convergent and discriminant validity (Bjureberg et al, 2016; Hallion et al, 2018; Miguel et al, 2017; Westerlund & Santtila, 2018; Yiğit & Yiğit, 2017). The DERS-16 was designed to measure five of the six original factors captured by the original DERS: (1) nonacceptance of negative emotions (three items), (2) inability to engage in goal-directed behaviors when distressed (three items), (3) difficulties controlling impulsive behaviors when distressed (three items), (4) limited access to emotion regulation strategies perceived as effective (five items), and (5) lack of emotional clarity (two items).…”

“…Furthermore, although the DERS-16 has demonstrated stability over time, the scale has also been shown to change in response to treatments that target emotion regulation (Bjureberg et al, in press; Bjureberg et al, 2017; Wilks et al, 2018), and due to its brief format, it has been included in studies that require repeated measure with tight intervals (e.g., mediation analyses; Bjureberg et al, in press; Bjureberg et al, 2017). Indicative of the growing interest in emotion regulation as an important construct to study in general and of the DERS-16 in particular, the measure has been translated and cross-validated in Brazilian (Miguel et al, 2017), Turkish (Yiğit & Yiğit, 2017), Swedish (Bjureberg et al, 2016), and Finnish (Westerlund & Santtila, 2018) samples. However, the DERS-16 has never been evaluated in Persian.…”