Évaluation multidimensionnelle de la régulation des émotions : propriétés psychométriques d’une version francophone du Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale

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Plusieurs psychopathologies se caractérisent par des difficultés de régulation des émotions. Actuellement, aucun instrument de langue française ne permet une évaluation multidimensionnelle de ces difficultés. Cette recherche examine les propriétés psychométriques d’une traduction francophone du Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) (Gratz et Roemer, 2004 [9] ), un instrument mesurant diverses difficultés de régulation des émotions, auprès de 454 adultes. La structure factorielle, la fidélité, la stabilité temporelle et la validité de l’instrument sont examinées. Les résultats appuient la qualité de la traduction et confirment que la version francophone du DERS présente d’excellentes propriétés psychométriques similaires à celles de la version originale anglaise. Cette traduction s’avère un instrument de choix pour le clinicien et le chercheur désirant évaluer diverses difficultés de régulation des émotions chez des adultes francophones, à partir d’un seul instrument. The amount of research into emotion regulation has grown significantly over the last few decades. It is now recognized that some psychopathologies are characterized by difficulties in emotion regulation. In spite of an increase in interest in the study of emotion regulation, there is still no consensus over the definition or explanatory model of emotion regulation. Generally speaking, emotion regulation refers to a process by which an individual modulates their emotions to respond appropriately to the environmental demands. Similarly, there are also few tools to evaluate emotion regulation or the difficulties adults face with this process. These tools reflect the differences between the proposed models, and have the disadvantage of either targeting and evaluating only one or some of the aspects of emotion regulation, or of evaluating closely-related constructs of emotion regulation. Furthermore, there are few tools translated into and validated in French, and currently no French language tool to evaluate the multidimensional aspects of these difficulties. Gratz and Roemer have developed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) (Gratz et Roemer, 2004 [9] ) which provides a model defining emotion regulation as a multidimensional construct implying: awareness, understanding and acceptance of emotions; ability to control impulsive behaviors and behave in accordance with desired goals when experiencing negative emotions; ability to use situationally appropriate emotion regulation strategies flexibly to modulate emotional responses as desired in order to meet individual goals and situational demands. The DERS examines six difficulties in emotion regulation: non-acceptance of negative emotions, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, limited access to emotion regulation strategies perceived as effective, lack of emotional awareness, and lack of understanding of these emotions defined as a lack of emotional clarity. This research examined the factorial structure, fidelity, temporal stability and convergent validity of a French translation of the DERS, l’Échelle des Difficultés de Régulation des Émotions (EDRE) [23] , on 454 French university students. In addition to responding to the EDRE, participants completed depression, situational anxiety and trait anxiety tests. The order of tests was counterbalanced. Five weeks later, 89 students completed the EDRE again in order to evaluate its temporal stability. The results supported the quality of the translation and confirm that the French version of DERS presents excellent psychometric properties. The confirmatory factor analysis supported the factorial structure of six factors corresponding to the six postulated dimensions of emotion regulation. Thus, the results supported the multidimensional conceptualization of emotion regulation based on the elaboration of the DERS as well as the structure of the French version of the tool. In addition, the results showed that the EDRE items possess excellent internal coherence, which supports its fidelity. The results also confirmed the temporal stability of the tool following an interval of 5 weeks. The convergent validity of the EDRE was also proven when the tool was correlated to measures of anxiety and depression. These results were similar to those obtained by the authors of the original English version of the tool, as well as by studies that have adapted and validated this tool in other languages. In conclusion, this study supports the psychometric qualities of the French version of the DERS. The EDRE constitutes one of the first tools in measuring emotion regulation difficulties in adults validated in French. Contrary to other available measures, it has the advantage of simultaneously evaluating several dimensions of emotion regulation. This translation is therefore a tool of choice for the practitioner and researcher who wish to evaluate various difficulties in emotion regulation in French-speaking adults, using a single tool.