Background: There are no reference values for the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-E) for the Chilean population.
Aim: To elaborate reference values for the interpretation of the DERS-E for the Chilean population.
Material and methods: The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale was answered by participants from the general population (1,153 heterosexual men and women and 467 gay and lesbian individuals) and a group of 351 participants with emotional complaints. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to obtain the reference values. A concordance index was determined, and the odds ratio was calculated to evaluate the probability of having mental health problems comparing participants with emotional complaints with those from the general population.
Results: The DERS-E cut-off score was 73 points for the Chilean population. No differences were detected for emotional regulation difficulties between men and women or by sexual orientation. Age had a weak association with emotional regulation difficulties.
Conclusions: DERS-E has an adequate diagnostic capacity, allowing to differentiate between those who have high or low emotional regulation difficulties.