SLPOtherAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2018

The emotion dysregulation inventory: Psychometric properties and item response theory calibration in an autism spectrum disorder sample.

Carla A Mazefsky, Lan Yu, Susan W White and 2 others

PMID 29624893

WHAT IT FOUND

A caregiver report called the Emotion Dysregulation Inventory captures observable emotion dysregulation in youth with ASD across verbal abilities.

The reactivity short form uses seven items, and dysphoria uses six. Scores were stable over four weeks and lower at inpatient discharge.

Key findings

01The final calibrated inventory had 30 items: 24 for Reactivity and 6 for Dysphoria.

02A 7-item Reactivity short form was selected, and its scores correlated 0.98 with the full Reactivity bank.

03Inpatient youth had higher EDI Reactivity and Dysphoria scores than community youth, and AIC scores decreased from admission to discharge.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs

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What it does not show

The online IAN participants chose to respond, so they may differ from families who did not participate. Most participants were over five years old, so the EDI is most appropriate for that age group. The sample was mostly Caucasian and non-Hispanic, so generalisability is limited. Cultural sensitivity has not yet been tested in large diverse samples. The Dysphoria factor was less robust than Reactivity, with poorer fit and fewer final items. CBCL data were not available for all inpatient participants. The paper did not measure emotion regulation strategies, so EDI scores do not explain why a child has trouble regulating emotion.

Declared interests

The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural funding. No author conflict declaration is provided in the supplied text.

The easy way to misread this

Do not read this as evidence that the EDI improves diagnosis or treatment. It is a caregiver-reported measure of observable emotion dysregulation, and the study did not test whether using it changes patient outcomes.

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