Skip to content

Opening book details…

About this Psychology article

The short‐form version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS‐21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non‐clinical sample by Julie D. Henry; John R. Crawford is a Psychology article available to read on EtoBox.

**Objectives.** To test the construct validity of the short‐form version of the Depression anxiety and stress scale (DASS‐21), and in particular, to assess whether stress as indexed by this measure is synonymous with negative affectivity (NA) or whether it represents a related, but distinct, construct. To provide normative data for the general adult population. **Design.** Cross‐sectional, correlational and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). **Methods.** The DASS‐21 was administered to a non‐clinical sample, broadly representative of the general adult UK population (__N__=1,794). Competing models of the latent structure of the DASS‐21 were evaluated using CFA. **Results.** The model with optimal fit (RCFI = 0.94) had a quadripartite structure, and consisted of a general factor of psychological distress plus orthogonal specific factors of depression, anxiety, and stress. This model was a significantly better fit than a competing model that tested the possibility that the Stress scale simply measures NA. **Conclusions.** The DASS‐21 subscales can validly be used to measure the dimensions of depression, anxiety, and stress. However, each of these subscales also taps a more gener

It is typically read by researchers, students, and practitioners in Psychology.

Author
Julie D. Henry; John R. Crawford
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2005
Language
EN
Field
Psychology (Social Sciences)