The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-18 Item: An Examination of Measurement Invariance Across Sex and Its Association with Criminal Behavior in the U.S

Abstract

Emotion dysregulation (ED) is related to many risk behaviors in emerging adults (EA), including criminal behavior (CB). Although the difficulties in emotion regulation scale-18 (DERS-18) is widely used to assess ED, it is unclear whether this measure captures ED across sex. This study drew from a sample of college students (n = 1,738) to evaluate measurement invariance of the DERS-18 across sex using confirmatory factor analysis. We also examined the relationship between the DERS-18 and CB using moderated logistic regression. Results showed that the DERS-18 was invariant across sex and was associated with CB similarly for males and females.