A Preliminary Psychometric Analysis of the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) Among Autistic Adolescents and Adults: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity

Alana J McVey; Hillary K Schiltz; Marika Coffman; Ligia Antezana; Brooke Magnus

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-05018-4

A Preliminary Psychometric Analysis of the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) Among Autistic Adolescents and Adults: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity

J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Mar;52(3):1169-1188. doi: 10.1007/s10803-021-05018-4. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Authors

Alana J McVey^#^{1

2}, Hillary K Schiltz^#³, Marika Coffman^{4

5

6}, Ligia Antezana⁶, Brooke Magnus^{3

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. amcvey@psych.ubc.ca.
² Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA. amcvey@psych.ubc.ca.
³ Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
⁴ Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 33886035
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05018-4

Abstract

Emotion dysregulation is common among autistic people, yet few measures have received psychometric evaluation in this population. We examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a commonly-used measure of emotion dysregulation, the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), in a sample of 156 autistic adolescents and adults. Data were drawn from the NIH National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) and an author's existing dataset. Results demonstrated that the factor structure generally conformed to the original 6-factor model, with modifications. Reliability analyses revealed good-to-excellent internal consistencies. Validity analyses indicated that the DERS was positively associated with measures of anxiety, depression, and alexithymia. Our findings provide preliminary evidence for the utility of the DERS in a small autistic sample, with minor modifications.

Keywords: Autism; Emotion regulation; Psychometrics.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Autism Spectrum Disorder*
Autistic Disorder* / diagnosis
Emotional Regulation*
Humans
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results