A Preliminary Psychometric Analysis of the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) among Autistic Adolescents and Adults: Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity

Emotion dysregulation is common among autistic people, yet few measures have received psychometric evaluation in this population. We examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a commonly-used measure of emotion dysregulation, the "Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale" ("DERS"), in a sample of 156 autistic adolescents and adults. Data were drawn from the NIH National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) and an author's existing dataset. Results demonstrated that the factor structure generally conformed to the original 6-factor model, with modifications. Reliability analyses revealed good-to-excellent internal consistencies. Validity analyses indicated that the "DERS" was positively associated with measures of anxiety, depression, and alexithymia. Our findings provide preliminary evidence for the utility of the "DERS" in a small autistic sample, with minor modifications.