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

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with prominent emotion dysregulation that requires treatment but can be difficult to measure. The Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI) was created using methods developed by the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS® ) to capture observable indicators of poor emotion regulation. Caregivers of 1,755 youth with ASD completed 66 candidate EDI items, and the final 30 items were selected based on classical test theory and item response theory (IRT) analyses. The analyses identified two factors: (a) Reactivity, characterized by intense, rapidly escalating, sustained, and poorly regulated negative emotional reactions, and (b) Dysphoria, characterized by anhedonia, sadness, and nervousness. The final items did not show differential item functioning (DIF) based on gender, age, intellectual ability, or verbal ability. Because the final items were calibrated using IRT, even a small number of items offers high precision, minimizing respondent burden. IRT co-calibration of the EDI with related measures demonstrated its superiority in assessing the severity of emotion dysregulation with as few as seven items. Validity of the EDI was supported by expert review, its association with related constructs (e.g., anxiety and depression symptoms, aggression), higher scores in psychiatric inpatients with ASD compared to a community ASD sample, and demonstration of test-retest stability and sensitivity to change. In sum, the EDI provides an efficient and sensitive method to measure emotion dysregulation for clinical assessment, monitoring, and research in youth with ASD of any level of cognitive or verbal ability. Autism Res 2018, 11: 928-941.