1 - (IOP 20) Refactoring the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) Using Exploratory Graphical Analysis (EGA) for Enhanced Clinical Utility

The original six-factor structure of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) (Gratz et al., 2004) has been debated in recent years across clinical and nonclinical populations (Bardeen et al., 2012; Osborne et al., 2017). As a gold standard tool for assessing emotion dysregulation in both diagnostic and treatment settings, a more accurate factorization has the potential to enhance clinical utility. This study employed Exploratory Graphical Analysis (EGA) to explore the dimensional structure of the DERS through network modeling (Golino & Demetriou, 2017). Using a sample of 428 college students from two universities in the Northeastern US, the dataset was evenly divided into two groups (n = 214 each) for exploratory and confirmatory analyses. EGA results suggested that the DERS is best explained as five interrelated latent factors, revealing strong connectivity among items. To improve factor stability and interpretability, ten DERS items were removed based on a 0.7 factor loading cutoff (Christensen & Golino, 2021). EGA was run on the remaining 26 items and identified four distinct factors rather than five. A standard Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was then conducted on the remaining 26 items in the second sample, which confirmed a four-factor model as an adequate fit for the data (CFI = .86; TLI= .84; p < .001). The four factors identified are Emotional Awareness, Loss of Control, Self-Deprecation, and Functional Disruption. Emotional Awareness reflects struggles in recognizing and understanding one’s emotions, which can contribute to broader regulatory challenges. Loss of Control encompasses a perceived lack of control over emotions and an inability to manage distress effectively. Self-Deprecation reflects negative self-appraisals in response to emotional experiences, contributing to maladaptive emotional responses. Lastly, Functional Interference captures deficits in impulse control and goal-directed behavior when experiencing heightened emotions. To further examine the organization of these factors, a Bifactor Analysis was conducted to assess whether the scale is better understood as one general factor and four specific factors. The bifactor model supports the 26-item DERS-R as a measure of overall Emotional Dysregulation with the four specific factors mentioned above. Refining the DERS with EGA enhances clinical utility by improving precision and offering a more targeted framework for assessment and intervention. The four specific factors enable clinicians to identify and address distinct patterns of dysregulation rather than viewing emotion regulation difficulties as a single, uniform concept.