The Children’s Sadness Management Scale (CSMS) and Anger Management Scale (CAMS) assess both adaptive and maladaptive aspects of emotion expression and regulation for the specific emotions of sadness and anger (Zeman, et al. 2001). We used the Dysregulation subscale of each of these measures, which assesses the extent to which children engage in maladaptive or inappropriate expressions of emotion. Higher scores on this scale reflect higher levels of emotion dysregulation. Children respond on a 3-point Likert scale ranging from hardly ever (1) to often (3). The scales have demonstrated adequate reliability, and their construct validity has been established (Zeman et al. 2001). These scales have been used in prior research with early adolescents (Sim and Zeman 2005). Representative items from the dysregulation scale are, “I attack whatever it is that is making me angry,” (CAMS) and “I cry and carry on when I’m sad” (CSMS). The Dysregulation subscale of the CSMS (α=0.60) and CAMS (α=0.66) each demonstrated adequate reliability.
