Psychometric properties of the dissociative experiences scale
Abstract
The test-retest reliability of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; Bernstein EM, Putnam FW [1986] Development, reliability, and validity of a dissociation scale. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 174:727-735) in a clinical sample was found to be .93 for the total DES score and .95, .89, and .82 for the three subscale scores of amnesia, depersonalization-derealization, and absorption (dissociative identity disorder [DID], DSM-IV), respectively. Test-retest reliabilities within diagnostic groups of multiple personality disorder, dissociative disorder not otherwise specified, and a general other category of psychiatric diagnoses were obtained for total and subscale scores on the DES. These ranged from .78 to .96. Tests of mean scores across the two test sessions showed the total and subscale scores to be temporally stable. The DES was also found to be highly internally consistent: Cronbach's alphas of .96 and .97 were observed for the total DES scores taken at times 1 and 2, respectively. Construct validity of the DES was demonstrated by differentiation among the subscale scores in a repeated-measures analysis of variance (F[2,154] = 32.03, p < or = .001). Normality and general distribution issues were also addressed and provided a rationale for using the DES with parametric statistics. Reasons why the DES (as it was originally designed) is not appropriate as a dependent measure in outcome research are discussed, along with needed future research. Implications of the findings for the clinical usefulness of the DES as a diagnostic instrument are noted.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Measures of trait dissociation demonstrate good test-retest reliability.
“measures of trait dissociation demonstrate good test-retest reliability (Bernstein and Putnam, 1986;Dell, 2006;Dubester and Braun, 1995).”
From A review of the relation between dissociation, memory, executive functioning and social cognition in military members and civilians with neuropsychiatric conditions (2016) · cites this paper as Dubester and Braun, 1995
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Measuring experiential avoidance: A preliminary test of a working model
Hayes, S. C., Strosahl, K., Wilson, K. G., Bissett, R. T., Pistorello, J., Toarmino, D., Polusny, M. A., Dykstra, T. A., Batten, S. V., Bergan, J., et al. (2004) · The Psychological Record · doi:10.1007/bf03395492 · Cited by 2,140 · see citing works
van Ijzendoorn, M. H., & Schuengel, C. (1996) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/0272-7358(96)00006-2 · Cited by 643 · see citing works
A real‐world study of the effectiveness of DBT in the UK National Health Service
Feigenbaum, J. D., Fonagy, P., Pilling, S., Jones, A., Wildgoose, A., & Bebbington, P. E. (2012) · British Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.2011.02017.x · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Comparisons of memories for traumatic events and other experiences
Byrne, C. A., Hyman, I. E., & Scott, K. L. (2001) · Applied Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1002/acp.837 · Cited by 112 · see citing works
Galatzer‐Levy, I. R., Madan, A., Neylan, T. C., Henn‐Haase, C., & Marmar, C. R. (2011) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.20684 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
McKinnon, M. C., Boyd, J. E., Frewen, P. A., Lanius, U. F., Jetly, R., Richardson, J. D., & Lanius, R. A. (2016) · Neuropsychologia · doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.07.017 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
“Critically, measures of trait dissociation demonstrate good test-retest reliability (Bernstein and Putnam, 1986; Dell, 2006; Dubester and Braun, 1995).”
Development and Psychometric Characteristics of the Dissociation Tension Scale
Stiglmayr, C., Schimke, P., Wagner, T., Braakmann, D., Schweiger, U., Sipos, V., Fydrich, T., Schmahl, C., Ebner-Priemer, U., Kleindienst, N., et al. (2010) · Journal of Personality Assessment · doi:10.1080/00223891003670232 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Yoga for adult women with chronic PTSD: a long-term follow-up study
Rhodes, A., Spinazzola, J., & van der Kolk, B. (2016) · The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine · doi:10.1089/acm.2014.0407 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Negro, P. J., Palladino-Negro, P., & Louzã, M. R. (2002) · Journal of Trauma & Dissociation · doi:10.1300/j229v03n01_05 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Sachse, S., Keville, S., & Feigenbaum, J. (2011) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1348/147608310x516387 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Collin-Vézina, D., Cyr, M., Pauzé, R., & McDuff, P. (2005) · Journal of Trauma & Dissociation · doi:10.1300/j229v06n01_05 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
Rabasco, A., & Andover, M. S. (2020) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2019.112661 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Erbuto, D., Innamorati, M., Lamis, D. A., Berardelli, I., Forte, A., De Pisa, E., Migliorati, M., Serafini, G., Gonda, X., Rihmer, Z., et al. (2018) · Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/00332747.2018.1480251 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Childhood Maltreatment and Narcissism: The Mediating Role of Dissociation
Bertele, N., Talmon, A., & Gross, J. J. (2022) · Journal of Interpersonal Violence · doi:10.1177/0886260520984404 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Moser, D. A., Aue, T., Wang, Z., Rusconi Serpa, S., Favez, N., Peterson, B. S., & Schechter, D. S. (2013) · Stress · doi:10.3109/10253890.2013.816280 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Rhudy, J. L., Davis, J. L., Williams, A. E., McCabe, K. M., & Byrd, P. M. (2008) · Behavioral Sleep Medicine · doi:10.1080/15402000802162539 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
- Authors
- DUBESTER, K. A., & BRAUN, B. G.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
- Published
- 1995-04
- Volume
- 183
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 231-235
- ISSN
- 0022-3018 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1972119664
- Cited by
- 149
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 2.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- Dissociative Experiences Scale, dissociation, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, construct validity, amnesia, depersonalization/derealization, absorption, dissociative identity disorder, dissociative disorder not otherwise specified, outcome measures, diagnostic tools
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Dissociative Disorders, Female, Hospitalization, Humans, Male, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychometrics, Reproducibility of Results
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
