Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Among Bulgarian Students: Psychometric Validation of DERS-18

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Pages: 178-196
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/FEHU8655

Abstract:

Emotion regulation is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to recognize, understand, and manage their emotional experiences in accordance with situational demands. Difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with various forms of psychological maladjustment, which makes their reliable assessment an important objective in contemporary psychological research. The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), developed by Gratz and Roemer (2004), is a widely used instrument that includes several subscales designed to measure different aspects of such regulatory difficulties. The present study aims to conduct a cultural adaptation and psychometric validation of the short version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-18) among a Bulgarian student population. The study included 93 university students, with analyses conducted on 86 valid cases. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed the six-factor structure of the instrument and demonstrated good suitability of the data for factor analysis (KMO = 0.766; Bartlett’s test p < .001). Reliability analysis indicated high internal consistency of the scale (α = 0.883; ω = 0.874). Convergent validity was examined through correlation analysis with the Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory (PERCI), revealing significant relationships between the indicators of the two instruments. The results suggest that the Bulgarian version of DERS-18 demonstrates good psychometric properties and can be used as a reliable instrument for assessing difficulties in emotion regulation among university students.-

Keywords:

emotion regulation, DERS-18, psychometric validation, university students.

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