Self-Report Assessment of Emotion Dysregulation

Self-report assessments remain among the most widely used measures for most psychological constructs, due to their feasibility, ease of administration, low cost, and wide availability. Self-report measures of emotion dysregulation are no exception. This chapter reviews two predominant conceptualizations of emotion dysregulation (one of which focuses on dysregulated emotional responses per se and another that focuses on maladaptive ways of responding to emotions), as well as the empirical support for extant self-report measures of emotion dysregulation consistent with both conceptualizations. Based on this review, the chapter concludes that both emotional responses themselves and an individual’s responses to those emotions may evidence dysregulation and inform our understanding of normal and abnormal development. Finally, future directions for research in this area are discussed, including the need for studies examining the clinical utility of targeting responses to emotions versus emotional experience per se in psychological interventions.