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

Abstract

AbstractA 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.