The DOI matches its Crossref record; 76 of the 76 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Development and Validation of a Brief Version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale: The DERS-16
Open accessAbstract
The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) is a widely-used, theoretically-driven, and psychometrically-sound self-report measure of emotion regulation difficulties. However, at 36-items, the DERS may be challenging to administer in some situations or settings (e.g., in the course of patient care or large-scale epidemiological studies). Consequently, there is a need a briefer version of the DERS. The goal of the present studies was to develop and evaluate a 16-item version of the DERS - the DERS-16. The reliability and validity of the DERS-16 were examined in a clinical sample (N = 96) and two large community samples (Ns = 102 and 482). The validity of the DERS-16 was evaluated comparing the relative strength of the association of the two versions of the DERS with measures of emotion regulation and related constructs, psychopathology, and clinically-relevant behaviors theorized to stem from emotion regulation deficits. Results demonstrate that the DERS-16 has retained excellent internal consistency, good test-retest reliability, and good convergent and discriminant validity. Further, the DERS-16 showed minimal differences in its convergent and discriminant validity with relevant measures when compared to the original DERS. In conclusion, the DERS-16 offers a valid and brief method for the assessment of overall emotion regulation difficulties.
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“A total score was calculated using the remaining five subscales (30 items total), consistent with a recently developed short-form measure (DERS-SF-5; Bjureberg et al., 2016). The α for the included scales ranged from .82 to .90.”
From Facets of Mindfulness Mediate the Relationship Between Attachment Orientation and Emotion Regulation in University Students (2024) · cites this paper as Bjureberg et al., 2016
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The DERS-16 has good psychometric properties in adolescents [159]”
From Efficacy of a transdiagnostic Internet prevention approach in adolescents (EMPATIA study): study protocol of a randomized controlled trial (2024) · cites this paper as [159]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“It uses a 5-point Likert scale and has shown acceptable test-retest reliability and internal consistency in adolescent populations [137-140].”
From Family Support Protocol for Adolescent Internalizing Disorders: Protocol for a Pre-Post Quantitative Treatment Development Study (2024) · cites this paper as [137]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The DERS’s psychometric properties are favorable, having moderate to very strong internal consistency (α=.69-.97) and strong retest reliability (r=0.88; ρI=0.85) [29, 46-49].”
From A Virtual Reality-Assisted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for and With Inuit in Québec: Protocol for a Proof-of-Concept Randomized Controlled Trial (2023) · cites this paper as [29]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
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“DERS-16 reported good test–retest reliability [46] and excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alphas between 0.87 and 0.96) [47].”
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“Correlating with anxiety, depression, stress, borderline traits, and more, the DERS-16 has good construct validity [29,47,50].”
From A Virtual Reality-Assisted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for and With Inuit in Québec: Protocol for a Proof-of-Concept Randomized Controlled Trial (2023) · cites this paper as [29]
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“The DERS-16 is a short, valid measure of emotion regulation [29,44].”
From A Virtual Reality-Assisted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for and With Inuit in Québec: Protocol for a Proof-of-Concept Randomized Controlled Trial (2023) · cites this paper as [29]
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Citations
Cites
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1983) · Cited by 79,882
SAUNDERS, J. B., AASLAND, O. G., BABOR, T. F., DE LA FUENTE, J. R., & GRANT, M. (1993) · Addiction · doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb02093.x · Cited by 13,597
Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348 · Cited by 11,929
Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004) · Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment · doi:10.1023/b:joba.0000007455.08539.94 · Cited by 8,942 · cited 13×
“Emotion Regulation The original Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz and Roemer 2004) is a 36item self-report measure that assesses individuals’ typical levels of emotion dysregulation across six domains: nonacceptance of negative emotions, inability to engage in goaldirected behaviors when distressed…”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationUsing Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness
Baer, R. A., Smith, G. T., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006) · Assessment · doi:10.1177/1073191105283504 · Cited by 7,511 · cited 2×
“Finally, the absence of significant correlations between both DERS versions and the FFMQ observe subscale is in-line with previous research (Baer et al., 2006), and suggests that the omission of items from the lack of emotional awareness subscale from the DERS-16 did not negatively influence the strength of its relati…”
BackgroundResultThe mini international neuropsychiatric interview
Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, D. V., Hergueta, T., & Weiller, E. (1998) · European Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0924-9338(99)80239-9 · Cited by 5,899
Henry, J. D., & Crawford, J. R. (2005) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1348/014466505x29657 · Cited by 5,801 · cited 3×
“The DASS-21 demonstrates adequate reliability and construct and discriminant validity (Henry and Crawford 2005).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialTests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix
Steiger, J. H. (1980) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.87.2.245 · Cited by 4,621
EMOTION REGULATION: A THEME IN SEARCH OF DEFINITION
Thompson, R. A. (1994) · Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1540-5834.1994.tb01276.x · Cited by 4,210 · cited 1×
“Emotion regulation broadly refers to the intrinsic and extrinsic processes involved in monitoring, evaluating, and modulating emotional reactions in order to accomplish one’s goals (Thompson 1994).”
BackgroundA Brief Tutorial on the Development of Measures for Use in Survey Questionnaires
Hinkin, T. R. (1998) · Organizational Research Methods · doi:10.1177/109442819800100106 · Cited by 4,095 · cited 2×
“for scale development in general and the development of short forms of scales in particular (Hinkin 1998; Smith et al. 2000), we used independent samples for scale development and evaluation, as well as independent administrations of the short version and original version of the DERS.”
Method
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Kring, A. M., & Werner, K. H. (2004). Emotion regulation in psychopathology. In P. Philippot, & R. S. Feldman (Eds.), The regulation of emotion (pp. 359–385). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Emotion dysregulation and non-suicidal self-injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Wolff, J. C., Thompson, E., Thomas, S. A., Nesi, J., Bettis, A. H., Ransford, B., Scopelliti, K., Frazier, E. A., & Liu, R. T. (2019) · European Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2019.03.004 · Cited by 512
Hallion, L. S., Steinman, S. A., Tolin, D. F., & Diefenbach, G. J. (2018) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00539 · Cited by 464
“Finally, we briefly examined the psychometric properties of three recently published short forms of the DERS (e.g., DERS-16, Bjureberg et al., 2016; DERS-SF, Kaufman et al., 2016; and DERS18, Victor and Klonsky, 2016) to evaluate the extent to which these measures performed comparably to the…”
BackgroundInfluentialProblematic video game use as an emotional coping strategy: Evidence from a sample of MMORPG gamers
Blasi, M. D., Giardina, A., Giordano, C., Coco, G. L., Tosto, C., Billieux, J., & Schimmenti, A. (2019) · Journal of Behavioral Addictions · doi:10.1556/2006.8.2019.02 · Cited by 284
A Measure of Nature Connectedness for Children and Adults: Validation, Performance, and Insights
Richardson, M., Hunt, A., Hinds, J., Bragg, R., Fido, D., Petronzi, D., Barbett, L., Clitherow, T. J., & White, M. P. (2019) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su11123250 · Cited by 260
“- The 16-item Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; [51]) was used to indicate ease of affect regulation.”
MethodWestrupp, E. M., Bennett, C., Berkowitz, T. S., Youssef, G. J., Toumbourou, J. W., Tucker, R., Andrews, F. J., Evans, S., Teague, S. J., Karantzas, G. C., et al. (2021) · European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s00787-021-01861-z · Cited by 271
“Emotion regulation The 16-item version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-16 [69] assessed difficulties in parent emotion regulation.”
Method
Metadata
- Authors
- Bjureberg, J., Ljótsson, B., Tull, M. T., Hedman, E., Sahlin, H., Lundh, L.-G., Bjärehed, J., DiLillo, D., Messman-Moore, T., Gumpert, C. H., & Gratz, K. L.
- Affiliations
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- University of Mississippi Medical Center (US)
- Lund University (SE)
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bjureberg, Johan
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment
- Published
- 2015-09-14
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 284-296
- ISSN
- 0164-0305 (ISSN-L)
- 0882-2689
- 1573-3505
- PMC
- PMC4882111
- OpenAlex
- W2172838886
- Cited by
- 1,081
- References
- 76
- Citations by year
- 2026: 217 · 2025: 186 · 2024: 170 · 2023: 151 · 2022: 128 · 2021: 104 · 2020: 61 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 13.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD062226)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, emotional dysregulation, scale shortening, psychometric validation, self-report measures, psychopathology, convergent and discriminant validity, test-retest reliability, internal consistency
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