[Psychometric evaluation of the Dissociative Experiences Scale-Taxon (DES-T)]

Current refinements of the dissociation concept have arrived at the distinction between a dimensional, non-pathological type and a discontinuous, pathological class of dissociation, which can be identified by a subset of 8 items of the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the DES-Taxon (DES-T). This study reports on the psychometric evaluation of the German version of the DES-T in a large general population sample (n = 2,359). The distributions of all items and the total score of the DES-T emerged to be non-normal and right-skewed with a sharp peak. The internal consistency proved to be high (Cronbach's α = 0.92), and all items discriminated well with item-total correlations above 0.65. An explorative factor analysis revealed that all items loaded on the first, unrotated factor with loadings of a ≥ 0.7 (explained variance 64%). The DES-T is a one-dimensional measure as indicated by confirmatory factor analysis. There were no relevant associations between the DES-T, sociodemographic characteristics, depression or anxiety. The prevalence of pathological dissociation was 1.6% in the general population. The DES-T proved to be an economic and psychometrically sound self-report measure for the assessment of pathological dissociative phenomena.