Emotion regulation tools generally measure how an individual is able to respond to and manage their emotions. Measuring emotional regulation at work is vital, as it’s a fundamental asset that helps individuals navigate life’s challenges on a personal and professional level. Emotion regulation is a key component of good mental health, and plays an important role in workplace dynamics and performance.
The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) measures how well an individual can regulate their emotions on a global scale. This means it provides insights into an individual’s well-being and ability to respond, adapt and develop at work and in their personal lives. Its findings highlight areas that may benefit from specific intervention strategies.
What Is Emotion Regulation?
According to the American Psychological Association, emotion regulation is “[…] the ability of an individual to modulate an emotion or set of emotions.”1
At one point in time, emotions were viewed as irrational impulses, and, therefore, expressing emotions was seen as lacking self-control, regardless of the context they were being expressed in.
However, our understanding of emotions has evolved to the point whereby we now appreciate that emotions signal important information to us. This is generally useful, however, sometimes they require a certain amount of regulation and control to avoid impulsive responses and negative outcomes. This process of control is emotion regulation. In essence, emotion regulation skills help us cope with difficult situations in balanced and adaptive ways.
Emotion regulation skills include being consciously aware of one’s emotions, identifying and accurately labeling these emotions, accepting and tolerating unpleasant feelings, effectively tackling triggering situations, and self-soothing when necessary.2
What Is Emotion Dysregulation?
When the process of emotion regulation is disrupted or ineffective, it is referred to as emotion dysregulation. Emotion dysregulation can potentially lead to negative emotional states and mental health issues, including anxiety and depression.
Why Is It Important to Measure Emotion Regulation?
It’s important to measure emotion regulation due to its foundational impact on our daily lives, including at work. According to research, approximately 30% of the general population report difficulties with emotion regulation. This statistic is also potentially higher in the adolescent population (40-60%), and higher again for people with mental health conditions such as borderline personality disorder (50-80%).3
In the workplace, assessing the emotion regulation skills of our people helps us to further grasp how to improve psychological and physical well-being, as well as informing an individual how their regulation of emotions may impact their personal and work experience. For example, understanding a persons’ emotion regulation approach may influence their ability to be resilient, which in turn influences their risk of experiencing burnout.
Given these high statistics, and the increase in awareness of how emotion regulation skills impact functioning across different life domains, it’s important to comprehensively measure emotion regulation difficulties. This allows us to provide effective intervention strategies and improve not only personal quality of life, but also a team’s overall performance.
What Does The Difficulties In Emotion Regulation Scale Measure?
The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16) is a validated, reliable instrument which assesses emotion regulation issues. A 36-item self report scale, The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale asks respondents how they relate to their emotions across six different subscales.
Example Items on The DERS
- Non acceptance of emotional responses.
- Difficulty engaging in goal-directed behavior.
- Impulse control difficulties.
- Lack of emotional awareness.
- Limited access to emotion regulation strategies.
- Lack of emotional clarity.
Measure Emotion Regulation At Work With MindOnly
In our Attachment At Work assessment, we combine The Difficulties In Emotion Regulation Scale with other measures which assess aspects of psychological well-being (including self-esteem, resilience, and burnout).
Additionally, the Attachment At Work assessment helps teams to perform at personal and professional best by measuring and reporting on group dynamics, including:
- Psychological safety
- Team identification
- Team-member exchange
- Leader-member exchange
- And how to lead a thriving team.
Conclusion: The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale
Measuring emotion regulation skills on a personal level provides vital insights into mental well-being and the best ways to navigate difficult circumstances and challenges. Further, developing awareness of how we manage our emotions is essential for targeting areas which may need improvement and growth; facilitating improvements in overall well-being.
Additionally, measuring emotion regulation is also important in workplace dynamics. MindOnly’s comprehensive Attachment At Work assessment combines The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale with other psychological tools to improve personal and professional well being, on an individual and group level, facilitating working relationships, performance, and quality of life.
References
[1] https://dictionary.apa.org/emotion-regulation
[2] Gross, J. J. (2014). Emotion regulation: Conceptual and practical issues. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (2nd ed., pp. 3-20). New York: Guilford Press.
[3] Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26(1), 41-54.
[4] Chmitorz, A., Kunzler, A., Helmreich, I., Tüscher, O., Kalisch, R., Kubiak, T., Wessa, M., & Lieb, K. (2018). Intervention studies to foster resilience – A systematic review and proposal for a resilience framework in future intervention studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 59, 78-100.
