Relationship of the Dissociative Experiences Scale to Demographics, Symptomatology, and Coping Strategies in a New Zealand Student Sample

Abstract

This study examined dissociation and its relationship to demographics, coping and symptomatology in a New Zealand student sample. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) performance of 137 students was examined in relation to gender and cultural identity, the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90R), and Coping Response Inventory (CRI) The results indicate that (1) overall, DES performance was similar to that of students from the United States, Scotland, and the Netherlands; (2) there were significant main effects for gender and cultural identity and an interaction of the two when SCL-90-R and CRI performances were considered; (3) there was a significant main effect for cultural identity on the DES; and (4) performance on the DES was significantly related to symptomatology and emotion-focused coping, but only for individuals of European cultural identity. Implications for the assessment of New Zealand samples are discussed.

Key Words:

• Dissociation
• coping
• psychopathology
• cultural validity