Development and Validation of a Brief Version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale: The DERS-16

The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) is a widely-used, theoretically-driven, and psychometrically-sound self-report measure of emotion regulation difficulties. However, at 36-items, the DERS may be challenging to administer in some situations or settings (e.g., in the course of patient care or large-scale epidemiological studies). Consequently, there is a need for a briefer version of the DERS. The goal of the present studies was to develop and evaluate a 16-item version of the DERS – the DERS-16. The reliability and validity of the DERS-16 were examined in a clinical sample (N = 96) and two large community samples (Ns = 102 and 482). The validity of the DERS-16 was evaluated comparing the relative strength of the association of the two versions of the DERS with measures of emotion regulation and related constructs, psychopathology, and clinically-relevant behaviors theorized to stem from emotion regulation deficits. Results demonstrate that the DERS-16 has retained excellent internal consistency, good test-retest reliability, and good convergent and discriminant validity. Further, the DERS-16 showed minimal differences in its convergent and discriminant validity with relevant measures when compared to the original DERS. In conclusion, the DERS-16 offers a valid and brief method for the assessment of overall emotion regulation difficulties.     

Peer and school problems in the lives of urban adolescents: Frequency, difficulty, and relation to adjustment

This study examined the occurrence of problem situations in the peer and school domains and their relation to adjustment among urban adolescents. Students from three urban middle schools (N = 176) serving a predominantly African American population rated 61 problem situations identified in a previous qualitative study and completed measures of adjustment. Ratings of frequency and difficulty confirmed the relevance of these situations for this population. Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that covariation in the frequency and difficulty of problem situations could be represented by separate factors representing peer situations involving friends, other peer situations, and school situations. The number of different problem situations experienced was significantly correlated with physical and relational aggression, delinquency, depression, anxiety, and self-worth. Several of these relations were strongest for peer situations that did not involve friends. There were few gender differences in the strength of these relations.     

An investigation of data collection methods for auditory stimuli: Paired comparisons versus a computer sorting task

Two experiments were performed to determine whether a computer sorting task could be used to collect data for auditory stimuli. Within each experiment, subjects were assigned to either a paired comparison task or a computer sorting task. For the first experiment, the stimuli were 18 graph representations constructed to vary on three parameters (shape, frequency, and amplitude). The stimuli for the second experiment were 30 sentences produced by actors portraying five emotions (anger, fear, happiness, sadness, and neutral). Multidimensional scaling solutions were produced and comparisons were made between the paired comparison and computer sorting task in each experiment. The results suggest that the computer sorting task is a viable alternative to the paired comparison task traditionally used for the investigation of the perception of auditory stimuli.     

Challenges to the Career Development of Urban Racial and Ethnic Minority Youth: Implications for Vocational Intervention

Urban racial and ethnic minority youth experience a variety of internal and external challenges to their career development. This article discusses several potential barriers to successful career attainment experienced by racial and ethnic minority youth and identifies a series of recommendations that vocational counselors may wish to consider in addressing the career development needs of this population.     

Pediatric–Psychology Partnership for Abuse Prevention

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant, albeit underreported and underidentified, public health problem that requires the informed and coordinated efforts of the health care system for appropriate recognition and intervention. In addition, health disparities are seen in the incidence, prevalence, and burden of IPV among specific population groups in the United States. Pediatric–Psychology Partnership for Abuse Prevention is a graduate psychology education training project focused on developing an integrated primary health-care based workforce that is culturally sensitive and competent in the identification and remediation of IPV. In addition, this project aimed to increase the number of health service psychologists from diverse backgrounds who are culturally competent and aware of health disparities. The training included clinical psychology trainees and pediatric residents working together in an ambulatory pediatric health care setting. Project methods, outcomes, and implications for predoctoral clinical psychology training programs are described.     

Social anxiety and posttraumatic stress in combat veterans: relations to well-being and character strengths

There are few studies examining the relationship between psychopathology and positive experiences and traits. Although initial studies suggest persons with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are at increased risk for excessive social anxiety, there have been no studies to date evaluating how these conditions might interact to affect positive experiences and traits. Using self-report scales, informant ratings, and experience-sampling methodologies, we examined the association of social anxiety with well-being and character strengths in veterans with and without PTSD. Controlling for PTSD and trait negative affect, social anxiety was negatively related to global ratings of well-being and character strengths. Social anxiety also accounted for incremental variance in day-to-day well-being (i.e., daily affect balance, percentage of pleasant days, positive social activity, self-esteem, gratitude) over a 14-day assessment period. Although veterans with PTSD reported lower levels of global and daily well-being and character strengths than veterans without PTSD, a diagnosis of PTSD failed to exhibit unique relationships with these constructs. Building on a growing body of work, these data suggest that social anxiety is uniquely associated with disturbances in positive experiences, events, and traits. Our findings support the value of directly addressing social anxiety in the study and treatment of PTSD.     

Psychiatric and Psychological Morbidity as a Function of Adaptive Disability in Preschool Children with Aggressive and Hyperactive-Impulsive-Inattentive Behavior

Children with high levels of aggressive-hyperactive-impulsive-inattentive behavior (AHII; n = 154) were subdivided into those with (n = 38) and without (n = 116) adaptive disability (+AD/–AD) defined as a discrepancy between expected versus actual adaptive functioning. They were compared to each other and a control group of 47 normal children. Both AHII groups were more likely to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder than control children; more symptoms of general psychopathology; greater social skills deficits; more parental problems; and lower levels of academic achievement skills. Compared to AHII – AD children, AHII + AD children had (1) more conduct disorder; (2) greater inattention and aggression symptoms; (3) more social problems, less academic competence, and poorer self-control at school; (4) more severe and pervasive behavior problems across multiple home and school settings; and (5) parents with poorer child management practices. Thus, adaptive disability has utility as a marker for more severe and pervasive impairments in AHII children.     

Spatial perspective taking: Coordination of left-right and near-far spatial dimensions

Second- and fourth-grade children viewed a cylindrical object in nine positions on a square display board marked with a 3 × 3 grid. As the object was placed in each position, children identified the view from 90, 180, or 270° positions around the display from a set of photographs. Perspectives in which the object differed from the child's view in both left-right and near-far dimensions were more difficult than perspectives that only transformed one dimension. Error rates decreased with age. There were no main effects of left-right vs near-far or of observer position. Rates of egocentric responding were high at both ages. We note that the complementary spatial dimension to left-right is near-far not front-back. Moreover, the relative ease of front-back transformations in previous research resulted from distinctive front-back cues on the display objects which enabled subjects to use nonspatial strategies to identify observer perspectives.     

Engineering students’ perceptions of engineering specialties

The field of engineering is defined by a number of specialty areas, thus most engineering students must decide upon an educational specialty track within the engineering major. Data on familiarity with, and perceptions of similarity among 11 engineering specialties were collected from 129 undergraduate engineering students from a public urban university. Similarity data were collected by way of a paired comparison task, and multidimensional scaling techniques were used to map these data into spatial representations. A three-dimensional solution was selected. Analysis of variance procedures also were used to examine differences in perceptions of engineering specialties by gender, ethnicity, commitment to career choice, and career decision-making self-efficacy. Results indicated that female students rated engineering specialties as more prestigious than male students, and students with a more dogmatic stance towards career rated engineering as relatively exclusive to men.     

Predicting the counterproductive employee in a child-to-adult prospective study

The present research tested the relations between a battery of background factors and counterproductive work behaviors in a 23-year longitudinal study of young adults (N = 930). Background information, such as diagnosed adolescent conduct disorder, criminal conviction records, intelligence, and personality traits, was assessed before participants entered the labor force. These background factors were combined with work conditions at age 26 to predict counterproductive work behaviors at age 26. The results showed that people diagnosed with childhood conduct disorder were more prone to commit counterproductive work behaviors in young adulthood and that these associations were partially mediated by personality traits measured at age 18. Contrary to expectations, criminal convictions that occurred prior to entering the workforce were unrelated to counterproductive work behaviors. Job conditions and personality traits had independent effects on counterproductive work behaviors, above and beyond background factors.