The current study examined the measurement and structural invariance of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) across ratings provided by men (N = 227) and women (N = 460). Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported full metric invariance and intercepts invariance for 20 of the 21 items. Invariance for all item intercepts was supported by multiple indicators multiple causes (MIMIC) procedure that controlled for the effects of age. Multiple-group CFA supported invariance for all factor variances and covariances. This procedure and the MIMIC analyses found equivalency for all latent mean scores. These findings indicate good support for measurement and structural invariance of the DASS-21 rating across men and women. The psychometric and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
AntonyM. M.BielingP. J.CoxB. J.EnnsM. W.SwinsonR. P. (1998). Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales in clinical groups and a community sample. Psychological Assessment, 10, 176-181.
2.
BeekmanA. T.BremmerM. A.DeegD. J. H.van BaldomA. J. L. M.SmitJ. H.de BeursE.. . . van TilburgW. V. (1998). Anxiety disorders in later life: A report from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 13, 717-726.
3.
BeekmanA. T.CopelandJ. R.PrinceM. J. (1999). Review of community prevalence of depression in later life. British Journal of Psychiatry, 174, 307-311.
4.
BilgelN.BayramN. (2010). Turkish version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-42) psychometric properties. Archives of Neuropsychiatry, 47, 118-126.
5.
BrownT. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire: Multiple factors or method effects?Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 1411-1426.
6.
BrownT. A. (2006). Confirmatory factor analysis for applied research. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
7.
BrownT. A.ChorpitaB. F.KorotitschW.BarlowD. H. (1997). Psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) in clinical samples. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 79-89.
8.
BrownT. A.WhiteK. S.BarlowD. H. (2005). A psychometric reanalysis of the Albany Panic and Phobia Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 337-355.
9.
ByrneB. M.StewartS. M. (2006). The MACS approach to testing for multiple group invariance of a second-order structure: A walk through the process. Structural Equation Modeling, 13, 287-321.
10.
CheungG. W. (2008). Testing equivalency in the structure, means, and variances of higher-order constructs with structural equation modelling. Organizational Research Methods, 11, 593-613.
11.
ClaraI. P.CoxB. J.EnnsM. W. (2001). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales in depressed and anxious patients. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 23, 61-67.
12.
CrawfordJ. R.CayleyC.LovibondP. F.WilsonP. H.HartleyC. (2011). Percentile norms and accompanying interval estimates from an Australian general adult population sample for self-report mood scales (BAI, BDI, CRSD, CES-D, DASS, DASS-21, STAI-X, STAI-Y, SRDS, and SRAS). Australian Psychologist, 46, 3-14.
13.
CrawfordJ. R.HenryJ. D. (2003). The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS): Normative data and latent structure in a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 42, 111-131.
14.
CromeE.BaillieA.TaylorA. (2012). Are male and female responses to social phobia diagnostic criteria comparable?International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 21, 222-231.
15.
DazaP.NovyD. M.StanleyM. A.AverillP. (2002). The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21: Spanish translation and validation with a Hispanic sample. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 24, 195-205.
16.
EinsteinD. A.LovibondP. F.GastonJ. E. (2000). Relationship between perfectionism and emotional symptoms in an adolescent sample. Australian Journal of Psychology, 52, 89-93.
17.
GlosterA. T.RhoadesH. M.NovyD.KlotscheJ.SeniorA.Kunik. . . StanleyM. A. (2008). Psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 in older primary care patients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 110, 248-259.
18.
GrantB. F.WeissmanM. M. (2007). Gender and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders. In NarrowW. E.FirstM. B.SirovatkaP. J.RegierD. A. (Eds.), Age and gender considerations in psychiatric diagnosis: A research agenda for DSM-V (pp. 31-45). Arlington, VA: American Psychological Association.
19.
HenryJ. D.CrawfordJ. R. (2005). The short-form version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44, 227-239.
20.
HookeG. R.PageA. C. (2002). Predicting outcomes of group cognitive behavior therapy for patients with affective and neurotic disorders. Behavior Modification, 26, 648-658.
21.
HorwathE.WeissmanM. M. (1995). Epidemiology of depression and anxiety disorders. In TsuangM. T.TohenM.ZahnerG. E. P. (Eds.), Textbook in psychiatric epidemiology (pp. 317-344). New York, NY: Wiley.
22.
HuL. T.BentlerP. M. (1998). Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods, 3, 424-453.
23.
JoreskogK. G.GoldbergerA. S. (1975). Estimation of a model with multiple indicators and multiple causes of a single latent variable. Journal of American Statistical Association, 70, 631-639.
24.
JormA. F. (2000). Does old age reduce the risk of anxiety and depression? A review of epidemiological studies across the adult life span. Psychological Medicine, 30, 11-22.
25.
JormA. F.WindsorT. D.DearK. B. G.AnsteyK. J.ChristensenH.RodgersB. (2005). Age group differences in psychological distress: The role of psychosocial risk factors that vary with age. Psychological Medicine, 35, 1253-1268.
KeoghE.CochraneM. (2002). Anxiety sensitivity, cognitive biases, and the experience of pain. Journal of Pain, 3, 320-329.
28.
KesslerR. C.BirnbaumH. G.ShahlyV.BrometE.HwangI.MclaughlinK. A.. . . SteinD. J. (2010). Age differences in the prevalence and co-morbidity of DSM-IV major depressive episodes: Results from the WHO World Health Survey Initiative. Depression and Anxiety, 27, 351-364.
29.
KesslerR. C.FosterC.WebsterP. S.HouseJ. S. (1992). The relationship between age and depressive symptoms in two national surveys. Psychology and Aging, 7, 119-126.
30.
LovibondS. H.LovibondP. F. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Sydney, Australia: Psychology Foundation.
31.
MuthenL. K.MuthenB. O. (2010). Mplus user’s guide (6th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthen & Muthen.
32.
NortonP. J. (2007). Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21): Psychometric analysis across four racial groups. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 20, 253-265.
33.
NortonP. J.HayesS. A.HopeD. A. (2004). Effects of a transdiagnostic group treatment for anxiety on secondary depressive disorders. Depression and Anxiety, 20, 198-202.
34.
ReiseS. P.WidamanK. F.PaughP. H. (1993). Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory: Two approaches for exploring measurement invariance. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 552-566.
35.
RitvoP.MyersR.Del GiudiceM. L.PazsatL.CampbellP. T.HowlettR. I.. . . RabeneckL. (2008). Factorial validity and invariance of a survey measuring psychosocial correlates of colorectal cancer screening in Ontario, Canada: A replication study. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 17, 3279-3283.
36.
SantorD. A.RamsayJ. O.ZuroffD. C. (1994). Nonparametric item analyses of the Beck Depression Inventory: Evaluating gender item bias and response option weights. Psychological Assessment, 6, 255-270.
37.
SatorraA.BentlerP. M. (1999). A scaled difference chi-square test statistic for moment structure analysis (UCLA Statistic Series, No. 260). Retrieved from http://preprints.stat.ucla.edu
38.
SchaferJ. L.GrahamJ. W. (2002). Missing data: Our view of the state of the art. Psychological Methods, 7, 147-177.
39.
SilversteinB. (1999). Gender difference in the prevalence of clinical depression: The role played by depression associated with somatic symptoms. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 480-482.
40.
SilversteinB. (2002). Gender differences in the prevalence of somatic versus pure depression: A replication. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 1051-1052.
41.
SmithL. L.ReiseS. P. (1998). Gender differences on negative affectivity: An IRT study of differential item functioning on the multidimensional personality questionnaire stress reaction scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1350-1362.
42.
TolinD. F.RobisonJ. T.GaztambideS.BlankK. (2005). Anxiety disorders in older Puerto Rican primary care patients. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 13, 150-156.
43.
UebelackerL. A.StrongD.WeinstockL. M.MillerI. W. (2009). Use of item response theory to understand differential functioning of DSM-IV major depression symptoms by race, ethnicity and gender. Psychological Medicine, 39, 591-601.
44.
WechslerD. (2001). Wechsler test of adult reading. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.
45.
WenzelA.SteerR. A.BeckA. T. (2005). Are there any gender differences in frequency of self-reported somatic symptoms of depression?Journal of Affective Disorders, 89, 177-181.
46.
WittchenH. U.SchusterP.LiebR. (2001). Comorbidity and mixed anxiety-depressive disorder: Clinical curiosity or pathophysiological need?Human Psychopharmacology, 16, S21-S30.
