The Brief Emotion Dysregulation Scale: Development, Preliminary Validation, and Recommendations for Use

Emotion dysregulation is a multi-faceted, transdiagnostic construct, and its assessment is crucial for characterizing its role in the development, maintenance, and treatment of psychiatric problems. We developed the Brief Emotion Dysregulation Scale (BEDS) to capture four components of emotion dysregulation: sensitivity, lability, reactivity, and consequences. We examined factor structure and construct validity in four independent samples of college students (N = 1,485). We elected to treat consequences as a separate index of problems associated with emotion dysregulation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses did not support the reactivity subscale and instead supported a well-fitting two-factor solution for sensitivity and lability. Multi-group analyses demonstrated strong factorial invariance by gender. The resulting 12-item BEDS includes sensitivity and lability subscales and a separate consequences scale to indicate associated problems. Convergent correlations suggested good construct validity. This provides preliminary support for the BEDS as a brief transdiagnostic screening tool for emotion dysregulation and associated consequences.