The DADYS-Screen: Development and Evaluation of a Screening Tool for Affective Dysregulation in Children

Christiane Otto, Anne Kaman, Claus Barkmann, Manfred Döpfner, Anja Görtz-Dorten, Claudia Ginsberg, Sara Zaplana Labarga, Anne Katrin Treier, Veit Roessner, Charlotte Hanisch, Michael Koelch, Tobias Banaschewski, Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Affective dysregulation (AD) in children is characterized by persistent irritability and severe temper outbursts. This study developed and evaluated a screening questionnaire for AD in children. The development included the generation of an initial item pool from existing instruments, a Delphi rating of experts, focus groups with experts and parents, and psychometric analyses of clinical and population-based samples. Based on data of a large community-based study, the final screening questionnaire was developed (n = 771; 49.7 % female; age M = 10.02 years; SD = 1.34) and evaluated (n = 8,974; 48.7 % female; age M = 10.00 years; SD = 1.38) with methods from classical test theory and item response theory. The developed DADYS-Screen (Diagnostic Tool for Affective Dysregulation in Children—Screening Questionnaire) includes 12 items with good psychometric properties and scale characteristics including a good fit to a one-factorial model in comparison to the baseline model, although only a “mediocre” fit according to the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). Results could be confirmed using a second and larger data set. Overall, the DADYS-Screen is able to identify children with AD, although it needs further investigation using clinical data.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1080-1094
Number of pages15
JournalAssessment
Volume30
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2023

Keywords

  • affective dysregulation
  • children
  • irritability
  • item response theory
  • parent-report
  • screening

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology
  • Applied Psychology

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