State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S- DERS)

Instructions:

Please read each statement and indicate how much it applies to YOUR EMOTIONS RIGHT NOW.

Not at all Somewhat Moderately Very Much Completely
  I feel guilty for feeling this way 1 2 3 4 5
I am paying attention to how I feel 5 4 3 2 1
I feel out of control 1 2 3 4 5
I am embarrassed for feeling this way 1 2 3 4 5
I am feeling very bad about myself 1 2 3 4 5
I am acknowledging my emotions 5 4 3 2 1
I have no idea how I am feeling 1 2 3 4 5
I feel ashamed with myself for feeling this way 1 2 3 4 5
I am having difficulty doing the things I need to do right now 1 2 3 4 5
I believe that I will continue feeling this way for a long time 1 2 3 4 5
I care about what I am feeling 5 4 3 2 1
I am angry with myself for feeling this way 1 2 3 4 5
I am having difficulty controlling my behaviors 1 2 3 4 5
I am confused about how I feel 1 2 3 4 5
I believe that I am going to end up feeling very depressed 1 2 3 4 5
I am taking time to figure out what I am really feeling 5 4 3 2 1
Not at all Somewhat Moderately Very Much Completely
  My emotions feel out of control 1 2 3 4 5
I am irritated with myself for feeling this way 1 2 3 4 5
I believe that my feelings are valid and important 5 4 3 2 1
I feel like I’m a weak person for feeling this way 1 2 3 4 5
My emotions feel overwhelming 1 2 3 4 5

Description

The State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S-DERS) is a 21 item self-report state measure of emotion regulation difficulties. The scale consists of four subscales; Nonacceptance, modulate, awareness and clarity. Items on the S-DERS have been adapted from the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004), which measures typical emotion regulation problems for an individual. The S-DERS differs in that it measures state based emotion regulation difficulties, whereas the original DERS measures trait emotional regulation. The S-DERS considers short-term factors such as interpersonal experiences, situational factors, cognitive processes, and even other emotional processes that may influence emotion dysregulation.

Validity and Reliability

The S-DERS was developed by Lavender and colleagues (2017). Items were adapted from the original Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). The scale was administered to 484 women in the community, aged 18 – 25 years. Four factors were yielded; nonacceptance, modulate, awareness and clarity. The S-DERS demonstrated adequate reliability and validity. The sample of 484 women had a mean total score of 36.22 (10.75), a mean nonacceptance score of 10.19 (5.30), a modulate mean score of 10.08 (4.49), an awareness mean score of 13.14 (4.64) and clarity mean score of 2.81 (1.42).

Interpretation

Items are summed to obtain total score, where higher scores are indicative of more problems with emotion regulation. Scores are also presented for each of the four subscales: – Nonacceptance: negative responses to and perceptions of one’s current emotional state (items 1, 4, 5, 8, 12, 18, 20) – Modulate: difficulties modulating emotional and behavioral responses in the moment (items 3, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 21) – Awareness: limited awareness and attention to current emotional states (items 2, 6, 11, 16, 19) – Clarity: problems with identifying emotional states (items 7, 14) Percentiles are presented to indicate how scores on the S-DERS compare to the community sample of women (Lavender et al., 2017). Higher percentiles indicate more difficulties. For example, a percentile of 90 (raw score of 50) indicates that an individual has more problems with emotion regulation than 90 percent of women in the community. A percentile of below, for example, 40 would indicate below average problems with emotion regulation and that the person has effective coping strategies.

Developer

Lavender, J. M., Tull, M. T., DiLillo, D., Messman-Moore, T., & Gratz, K. L. (2017). Development and validation of a state-based measure of emotion dysregulation: The State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S-DERS). Assessment, 24(2), 197-209.

Number Of Questions

21

References

Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale. Journal of psychopathology and behavioral assessment, 26(1), 41-54.

Lavender, J. M., Tull, M. T., DiLillo, D., Messman-Moore, T., & Gratz, K. L. (2017). Development and validation of a state-based measure of emotion dysregulation: The State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S-DERS). Assessment, 24(2), 197-209.

Developer Reference:

Lavender, J. M., Tull, M. T., DiLillo, D., Messman-Moore, T., & Gratz, K. L. (2017). Development and validation of a state-based measure of emotion dysregulation: The State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S-DERS). Assessment, 24(2), 197-209.

This content is licensed under a CC-BY license. The CC-BY licenses grant rights of use the scales in your studies (the measurement instrument and its documentation), but do not replace copyright. This remains with the copyright holder, and you have to cite us as the source.

Mohammed Looti, PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES (2023) State Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (S- DERS). Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/state-difficulties-in-emotion-regulation-scale-s-ders/. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31575.96163

Related terms:

  1. Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)
  2. Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS)
  3. Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC)
  4. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (ERQ-CA)
  5. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ)
  6. Emotion-Regulation Skills Questionnaire (ERSQ)
  7. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ)
  8. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ-D-FK)
  9. DREAM STATE (D-STATE)
  10. Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) – teachers