Psychometrics of Three Dissociation Scales: Reliability and Validity Data on the DESR, DES-II, and DESC

ABSTRACT

The current study assessed the reliability and validity of three measures of dissociation. Three hundred students completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale Revised (DESR), the Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (DES-II), and the Dissociative Experiences Scale Comparison (DESC); an additional 252 community adults evaluated clarity of instructions. Findings revealed that the three dissociation measures showed acceptable test–retest reliability and Cronbach’s alphas. The DESR and DES-II strongly intercorrelated, but the DESC correlated only moderately with the two remaining dissociation measures, sharing less than 10% of the variance with the original scale. Additionally, the DESR and DES-II showed stronger convergent validity (correlation with measures of alexithymia and post-traumatic stress disorder) than did the DESC. The DESC was the only measure unrelated to trauma history. Participants reported substantially greater difficulty in understanding and utilizing the metric offered by the DESC. In conclusion, evidence supports the DES-II and DESR as alternate measures, but the DESC requires more investigation.

KEYWORDS:

• dissociation
• reliability
• validity
• alexithymia
• longitudinal
• measure development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the last author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

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