Self-reported emotion regulation difficulties in psychosis: Psychometric properties of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16)

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

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 (Mage = 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.

Emotion dysregulation and Internet gaming disorder in young people: Mediating effects of negative affect and metacognitions

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have found that emotion dysregulation, negative affect, and metacognitions about online gaming are risk factors for Internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, few studies investigated the mechanisms underlying these interactions. The present study aimed to explore the relationships between emotion dysregulation and IGD, and the mediating effects of negative affect and metacognitions about online gaming.

METHODS

An online survey was conducted with young people (aged 10-24 years) who played video games. 1768 participants were included in this study. Observed variables, including emotion dysregulation, IGD, depression, anxiety, and metacognitions, were measured with self-report scales. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the relationships among the variables.

RESULTS

The results showed that emotion dysregulation positively predicted IGD through a fully mediated model which included the independent mediating effects of negative affect and metacognitions about online gaming and their sequential mediating effect. The model explained 76.1 % of the variance in IGD.

LIMITATIONS

This was a cross-sectional study which could not infer causality.

CONCLUSIONS

This study emphasizes that negative affect and metacognitions about online gaming mediate the effect of emotion dysregulation on IGD; moreover, metacognition may be a proximal factor of IGD. Thus, improving emotional regulation and modifying maladaptive metacognitions in young people may improve the prevention and treatment of IGD.

Validation of a brief version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16) with an older Norwegian population

Emotion regulation is proposed to have a salient role in optimal aging. However, currently used measures of emotion regulation have not been validated for older adults. Therefore, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-short form (DERS-16) in a large Norwegian sample consisting of individuals between 70 and 95 years (n = 2525). Tests of internal consistency, reliability, assessment of intra-domain correlations, and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. Construct validity was further investigated by assessing concurrent associations between DERS-16 and well-established measures of psychological disorders, psychological health, and well-being (five-item version of Geriatric Depression Scale, Geriatric Anxiety Inventory-short form, and OECD guidelines on measuring subjective well-being). All subscales derived from the instrument showed adequate internal consistency. Furthermore, we obtained a theoretically consistent factor structure, in which a bifactor model combining a general emotion regulation factor and five additional domain-specific facet-factors had superior model fit. As expected, difficulties in emotion regulation correlated positively with symptoms of depression and anxiety, and negatively with psychological health and well-being. Associations were generally of moderate strength. We can thus conclude that the DERS-16 demonstrates excellent psychometric properties when used in samples with older adults and may safely be employed in studies of emotion regulation difficulties in the older segment of our population.

Emotional dysregulation as a mediator linking sleep disturbance with aggressive behaviors: Disentangling between- and within-person associations

PURPOSE

Sleep problems and aggressive behaviors are two prevalent and highly related problems among adolescents and emerging adults worldwide. This longitudinal study examined the reciprocal relations between sleep disturbance with aggressive behaviors and whether emotional dysregulation functioned as mediator of the relations, after separating within-person effects from between-person effects.

METHODS

A total of 4352 freshman students participated in a five-wave longitudinal study across two and half years. Data from the second wave to the fourth wave was used in this study. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) were utilized to separate between- and within-person effects.

RESULTS

Results from RI-CLPM showed: (a) Sleep disturbance and aggressive behaviors bidirectionally predicted each other at the within-person level; (b) Emotional dysregulation functioned as a mediator of the associations from sleep disturbance to aggressive behaviors at the within-person level.

CONCLUSION

These findings advanced the literature by elucidating longitudinal associations among sleep disturbance, emotional dysregulation, and aggressive behaviors at the within-person level, suggesting that prevention and intervention programs targeted at improving emotional regulation skills may be helpful to prevent the developmental pathway from sleep disturbance to aggressive behaviors among college students.

The association between mental health and Bulimia Nervosa among a sample of Lebanese young adults: the indirect effect of difficulties in emotion regulation

BACKGROUND

Bulimia nervosa (BN) is defined as repeated episodes of binge eating, followed by compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting. BN has been shown to be associated with many co-morbidities including depression and anxiety. BN has also been associated with stress, which was shown to trigger binge eating episodes in BN. Furthermore, difficulties in emotion regulation have been seen to play an important role in the psychopathology of eating disorders, including BN. Seeing that BN is the most prevalent eating disorder in Lebanon, which is linked to the stressful events the country has been through, the study aims to examine the indirect effect of emotional dysregulation on this relationship between mental health issues (stress, anxiety and depression) and bulimia nervosa among young adults. We hypothesize that difficulties in emotion regulation would have an indirect effect in the relationship between mental health and BN.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional observational study, based on an online anonymous survey, which was carried out between September and December of 2020. Participants were all 18 years and above, recruited from all Lebanese governorates (n = 1175).

RESULTS

Difficulties in emotion regulation mediated the association between anxiety/stress/depression and bulimia. Higher mental health issues were significantly associated with more difficulties in emotion regulation; higher difficulties in emotion regulation were significantly associated with more bulimia. Finally, higher anxiety and higher stress, but not depression, were significantly and directly associated with higher bulimia.

CONCLUSION

Results of this study could be used by mental health professional to shed light on the difficulties in emotion regulation in patients with BN and try to use therapeutic strategies to help them better regulate their emotions.

Managing emotions in psychosis: Evaluation of a brief DBT-informed skill group for individuals with psychosis in routine community services

Objectives

Individuals with psychosis report that emotion regulation (ER) difficulties are treatment priorities, yet little is known about how targeted ER interventions may help. We evaluated a new eight‐session Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)–informed skills group specifically adapted for individuals with psychosis: the Managing Emotions Group (MEG) in diverse, inner‐city community services.

Method

A mixed‐method design was utilised to assess the feasibility (acceptability and potential clinical impact) of local delivery of MEG. Uptake, completion (≥50% of sessions), post‐session satisfaction ratings, and thematic analysis of qualitative feedback from 12 completers assessed acceptability. Pre–post‐intervention changes in psychological distress, self‐reported ER difficulties, and adaptive ER skill use assessed potential clinical impact.

Results

Forty‐eight individuals (81% of attenders) completed the intervention (M_age = 43, 54% female) of whom 39 completed pre‐ and post‐group measures. Participants reported high satisfaction and meaningful improvements in understanding and managing emotions, with positive impact on daily life. Self‐reported psychological distress, ER difficulties, and adaptive ER skill use significantly improved, with medium‐to‐large pre‐post effects (d = 0.5–0.7) except lack of emotional clarity (d = 0.3).

Conclusions

MEG was feasible and acceptable, and a future feasibility randomised controlled trial is warranted.

Practitioner points

Individuals with psychosis report that support with their emotions is a priority.

Brief interventions for emotion regulation difficulties are acceptable to individuals with psychosis and can be feasibly delivered in a local outpatient service.

Distress and emotion regulation difficulties and skills improved significantly from pre–post treatment for clients completing the managing emotions group.

Further implementation and evaluation are needed to support continued refinement to meet the needs and priorities of individuals with psychosis.

Sleep problems and emotional dysregulation mediate the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and suicidal behaviors: A three-wave longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Suicide is a major public health safety concern among youth. Childhood emotional abuse is one of the most widely recognized risk factors for suicidal behaviors. However, little is known about the role of sleep problems and emotion dysregulation in this relationship.

METHODS

This study is part of a large-scale health-related cohort among Chinese college students. A total of 7434 participants who completed the first three waves of data collection were used for data analysis. All participants completed questionnaires regarding childhood emotional abuse (Wave 1), sleep problems and emotional dysregulation (Wave 2), and suicidal behaviors (Wave 3). Mediation analyses with bootstrapping were conducted to investigate the mediating role of sleep problems and emotional dysregulation in the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and suicidal behaviors.

RESULTS

The results showed that the prevalence of childhood emotional abuse and suicidal behaviors were 8.7% and 5.9%, respectively. Findings from mediation analysis showed that sleep problems and emotional dysregulation served both parallel and sequential mediating roles in the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and suicidal behaviors.

LIMITATIONS

All measures were based on self-report instead of objective assessments or clinical diagnostic evaluations.

CONCLUSIONS

Psychological interventions aimed at developing healthy sleep habits and emotion regulation skills may be helpful in decreasing the risk of suicidal behaviors, especially for suicide ideators with childhood emotional abuse.