The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale–Dyadic version: A new tool for the evaluation of the dyadic dysregulation in couple relationships

Abstract

A new measure for assessing an individual's perception of the dyadic difficulties in emotion regulation with a romantic partner is tested. The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale–Dyadic (DERS-D) was obtained by adapting some items of the previous Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) to the dyadic context. The scale was administered both to a sample of university students (N = 835) to explore its factorial structure and to a convenience sample (N = 833) together with the DERS, the DERS-Positive, the Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ), and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) to confirm the factorial structure and to explore its construct validity. Results highlight that DERS-D measures two distinct features, namely the lack of dyadic awareness and the lack of dyadic clarity, and that configural invariance across genders was met. DERS-D subscales' internal consistency was high. The correlations between the DERS-D and the other measures demonstrated its construct and criterion validity. The promising nature of these results is discussed in light of the potential clinical and empirical uses of the DERS-D.