The Persian Version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-18): Psychometric Properties and Its Role in Predicting Aggression in Iranian Adolescents

This study examined the Persian validation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-18) and its role in predicting aggression in Iranian adolescents. This study was cross-sectional; the statistical population included all Iranian students, and 1117 Iranian adolescents were selected. Participants were asked to complete the DERS-18, the Quality of Mindfulness Scale, the Short Self-Regulation Scale (SSRQ), the Alexithymia Scale, and the Aggression Scale. The present study included two phases: exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics version 22.0, while the factor structure was used to analyze the internal structure of the DERS-18 using LISREL 8.8. The initial analysis of the EFA results revealed six factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, which explained 68.43% of the variance. Results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that a six-factor model provided a good fit to the data (SRMR = 0.050; CFI = 0.94; NFI = 0.92; IFI = 0.94; RFI = 0.90; GFI = 0.92; RMSEA = 0.065). Positive correlations of the DERS-18 subscales with the alexithymia subscales between 0.29 and 0.59 indicated good convergent validity. The negative correlations between the DERS-18 subscales and quality of mindfulness ranged from −0.37 to −0.66, and the self-regulation scale ranged from -0.49 to -0.69. All correlations were statistically significant at p < 0.01, indicating acceptable discriminant validity. The results showed that the DERS-18 significantly predicts aggression in adolescents. DERS-18 has good validity for Iranian adolescents. It can be used as a valid and appropriate instrument in clinical and educational settings to assess adolescents' emotion regulation difficulties and to establish treatment programs.