The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and psychiatric symptoms: Relations among Asian, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White emerging adults

Despite widespread use of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and 36-item Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) in multicultural samples, few studies have systematically examined how these tools relate to one another and to psychiatric symptoms among underrepresented groups, particularly Hispanic or Latino individuals. We addressed this gap and examined the association between ERQ and DERS and their associations with several distinct measures of depression, anxiety, and stress among U.S. college-aged adults (n = 990; 58% women) who self-identified as Asian (19%), Hispanic or Latino (23%), non-Hispanic White (NHW; 58%). Internal consistency within ethnic groups was acceptable to excellent (ERQ α: .75 - .94; DERS α: .93 - .94). Among the groups, the positive and negative associations between DERS and suppression and reappraisal, respectively, were not significantly different. The positive and statistically significant association between reappraisal and suppression among Asian individuals was stronger than the association observed among NHW. Directional patterns between the ER measures and psychiatric symptoms aligned with existing work, but the strength of the associations varied by ethnicity and symptom measure. Clinically significant ethnic differences were identified among associations between measures of ER and psychiatric symptoms. As prior work supports the original factor structures of the ERQ and DERS, findings suggest that these tools may be reliably used to assess ER in Asian, Hispanic or Latino, and NHW emerging adults. However, group differences in how emotion regulation relates to psychiatric symptoms may affect diagnostic accuracy and should be considered to support more equitable mental health assessment.