Emotion dysregulation in older people: validity and reliability of an 8-item version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale

Abstract

Objectives

The abbreviated 16-item version of the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16) is widely used to assess individuals’ perceived challenges in regulating their emotions, a central aspect of psychological symptoms commonly experienced in old age. However, its psychometric properties have yet to be tested in this population. Furthermore, a shorter version of the DERS-16 could further minimize the assessment burden on older individuals. Thus, we aimed to test the DERS-16’s psychometric performance and determine if any items were redundant to develop a psychometrically sound shorter version.

Methods

We enrolled 302 Portuguese older adults (M_age = 75.22; SD = 8.99 years) in a cross-sectional study.

Results

Exploratory factor analyses indicated a one-factor structure and a four-factor solution with eight items (69.3%–81.9% of the variance observed). The four-factor–8-item solution presented an interpretable structure and demonstrated good reliability values (> 0.70) and construct validity with the Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Eight-Item Geriatric Depression Scale, and Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (r = 0.66, 0.40, 0.52; p < 0.001).

Conclusion

The robust psychometric properties of DERS-8 make it a valuable tool for clinical and longitudinal studies, facilitating targeted interventions in older adults and allowing for precise emotion dysregulation screening.

Keywords:

• Emotion regulation
• assessment
• psychometrics
• validity
• short version
• older adults

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.