The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale–Parent Report: A Psychometric Investigation Examining Adolescents With and Without ADHD

Abstract

Emotion dysregulation is associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and confers risk for behavior problems and functional impairment; however, there is little guidance on best practices for measurement in adolescents. We developed a parent-report version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-P). Evidence of reliability and validity was evaluated in a large community online sample (Study 1: n = 978; M = 13.52 years; SD = 1.93) and in two samples of adolescents with ADHD (Study 2, Sample 1: n = 78; M = 12.12 years, SD = 0.91; Sample 2: n = 206; M = 15.35 years; SD = 0.85). A four-factor solution of the DERS-P was obtained in Study 1 and confirmed in Study 2, with factors demonstrating acceptable internal consistency. The community sample was generally rated as less dysregulated than the ADHD samples. Support was obtained for convergent, concurrent, and incremental validity evidence. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the DERS-P as a psychometrically sound parent-report measure of emotion dysregulation in 11- to 17-year-old adolescents.

Emotion dysregulation in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a meta-analysis

“…Furthermore, as our results demonstrate, such therapeutic strategies and interventions would be advisable to focus on a general ED impairment in adults with ADHD while considering emotional lability and negative emotional responses as aspects of ED that need to be targeted in adults with ADHD. Moreover, there is strong evidence of the effectiveness of pharmacological [27,71,72];) and psychotherapeutic interventions in alleviating emotion dysregulation and the disorder's core symptoms [4,6,11,73,74]. In light of the problem of diagnosing ADHD in adulthood and the lack of specific criteria for adults, our meta-analysis findings suggest that adopting an approach that addresses aspects of ED in the diagnosis and treatment of adults with ADHD would yield a valuable supplementary benefit.…”

“…As the adopted conceptual models of ED converged in the studies included in our meta-analysis, we did not analyze them accordingly. Moreover, reviews have shown that moderators such as gender and cognitive functions ( [75][76][77]; as well as the presence of comorbidity [3] or medication [6] play a significant role in ADHD. Therefore, if emotion dysregulation is assumed to be a main feature of ADHD in adults, controlling for such moderators should be part of a meta-analysis.…”

Assessment of a conceptually informed measure of emotion dysregulation: Evidence of construct validityvis a visimpulsivity and internalizing symptoms in adolescents withADHD

“…Multi-informant assessment is necessary to capture each informant's unique perspective (Hunsley & Mash, 2007) and discrepancies across informants reflect meaningful contextual variation in functioning (Kraemer et al, 2003). Along these motivations, evidence supporting a DERS-Parent report (Bunford, Dawson, et al, 2018) was recently obtained, though this measure shares a conceptual background with the DERS self-report (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), and as such, has similar concerns with regard to its applicability for ADHD youth.…”

“…As in Bunford, Dawson, et al (2018), items of the original measure were adapted to assess parental perceptions of adolescent emotion regulation. Similar to the ERICA-S, items are also rated on a five-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree).…”

“…The DERS-P is a 29-item parent-report measure of child ED (Bunford, Dawson, et al, 2018), with adequate convergent, concurrent, and incremental validity as well as internal consistency (Bunford, Dawson, et al, 2018). Higher scores indicate greater ED (and thus, worse regulation).…”