Brief Description
The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale 18 (DERS-18) assesses difficulties in emotion regulation. DERS-18 is the briefer version of the original 36-item DERS. This scale measures an integrative conceptualization of emotion regulation as involving not just the modulation of emotional arousal, but also the awareness, understanding, and acceptance of emotions, and the ability to act in desired ways regardless of emotional state. The DERS-18 can be used to facilitate understanding of how emotion dysregulation is associated with psychiatric symptoms and treatment progress; it can help track changes in a client’s ability to self-regulate throughout the course of treatment. Respondents rate how often they experience the statements listed (e.g., “I pay attention to how I feel”) on a scale from “Almost never” to “Almost always”.
Assessment Administration Type
Self-report
Number of questions
18
Age Range for Administration
18+
Recommended Frequency of Administration
No standardized frequency; recommend administering every other week or as clinically indicated.
Summary of Scoring and Interpretations
The DERS-18 contains 18 questions scored on a 5-point Likert scale with values from 1 (“Almost never”) to 5 (“Almost always”); Note: items 1, 4 and 6 are reverse scored. A total score is calculated by summing the item responses and ranges from 18 to 90; higher scores indicate greater difficulty with emotion regulation skills, strategies, and/or processes. There are also diz subscales and each subscale score is calculated by summing the corresponding item responses. See table below for subscales and their associated item numbers.
Subscale | Item Numbers |
Awareness (lack of awareness or inattention to emotional responses) | 1, 4, 6 |
Clarity (lack of clarity reflects the extent to which an individual knows and is clear about his or her emotions) | 2, 3 ,5 |
Goals (difficulty in concentrating and/or accomplishing tasks when experiencing negative emotions) | 8, 12, 15 |
Impulse (difficulty remaining in control of one’s behavior when experiencing negative emotions) | 9, 16, 18 |
Non-acceptance (tendency to have a negative secondary or non accepting reaction to one’s own distress) | 7, 13, 14 |
Strategies (reflects the belief that there is little one can do to regulate oneself once upset) | 10, 11, 17 |
Blueprint Adjustments
N/A
Clinical Considerations
Estimated completion time: 4-7 minutes
While the DERS-36 scale has contributed greatly to the understanding of emotion regulation problems, its length makes its inclusion in brief study protocols difficult and therefore limits its utility. In order to address this issue, the DERS-18 was developed as a short form version of the DERS-36, composed of the strongest items from each of the measure’s six subscales.
Emotional dysregulation is thought to be a central feature underlying many psychological difficulties and behavioral problems, including deliberate self-harm.
Citation
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