Emotional Dysregulation in Adults from 10 World Societies: An Epidemiological Latent Class Analysis of the Adult-Self-Report

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Emotional dysregulation (ED) is a dimensional psychological domain, previously operationalized by instruments of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) for children and adolescents; however, its cross-cultural and bottom-up characteristics among adult populations are still unknown. METHOD: We examined scores obtained on the Adult Self-Report (ASR) by 9,238 18- to 59-year-olds from 10 societies that differed in social, economic, geographic, and other characteristics. A Latent Class Analysis was performed on the data from each society. RESULTS: In each society, a dysregulated class (DYS) was identified, which was characterized by elevated scores on most ASR syndromes. The mean prevalence of DYS was 9.2% (6.1-12.7%). The best models ranged from three to five latent classes in the different societies. CONCLUSIONS: Although the number of identified classes and the prevalence of ED varied across societies, a DYS class was found in each society, suggesting the need to adopt a dimensional view of psychopathology and a cross cultural perspective also in adult populations.