Scale name: Depression
Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS)
Scale overview: The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) is a
21-item screening instrument for the three psychological conditions of
depression, anxiety, and stress.
Note: There is a 42-item version of the DASS. This post
focuses on the 21-item version.
Authors: Lovibond, S. H.,
& Lovibond, P. F. (1995)
Response Type: Items are rated on a 4-point scale of frequency.
0 = Did not apply to me at
all.
1= Applied to me to some
degree, or some of the time.
2= Applied to me to a
considerable degree, or a good part of time.
3 = Applied to me very
much, or most of the time.
Scale items
Each of the three scales (Depression,
Anxiety, Stress) has 7-items worded in the first person e.g., “I felt…” or “I
experienced…” and so forth.
Reliability:
Internal consistency values
based on Cronbach Alpha calculations were strong for the DASS-21 (Antony et
al., 1988).
Depression = .94
Anxiety = .87
Stress = .91
Validity: Factor analysis supported the structure of three
scales. Factor loadings are reported in the Antony et al. (1988) publication.
Antony et al., (1988) reported
concurrent validity data comparing the three DASS-21 scales to the Beck
Depression (BDI) and Anxiety (BAI) and STAI-T measures.
DASS-21 Scales-
Correlations with other measures
Depression and BDI =
.79
Anxiety and BAI =
.85
Stress and STAI-T =
.68
Note: All of the scales in
the study were correlated with values ranging from .46 to .85.
*****
Stanford et
al. (2021) included the DASS-21 in a psychology of religion study. Religious
coping was assessed using the Brief RCOPE. Negative coping was linked to stress
(39), anxiety (.40), and depression (.41). There was a weak, albeit
statistically significant relationship between positive religious coping and
anxiety (.16) but not for either stress or depression.
*****
DASS-21 and the SCOPES Model
The three subscales of the DASS-21 screen for mental health conditions associated with the E (Emotion/Mood) dimension of the multidimensional SCOPES model.
Availability:
The full set of 21 items is
available from the PsycTESTS database.
The items can also be found
in Table 2 of the Antony et al. 1998 article.
Permissions: According to PsycTESTS:
Test content may be
reproduced and used for non-commercial research and educational purposes
without seeking written permission. Distribution must be controlled, meaning
only to the participants engaged in the research or enrolled in the educational
activity. Any other type of reproduction or distribution of test content is not
authorized without written permission from the author and publisher. Always
include a credit line that contains the source citation and copyright owner
when writing about or using any test.
References for the scale
Antony, M. M., Bieling, P. J., Cox, B. J., Enns, M. W., & Swinson, R.
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(2), 176-181. doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.10.2.176
Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1995). Depression Anxiety Stress
Scales [Database record]. Retrieved from PsycTESTS. doi:
https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/t01004-000
Reference for using scales
in research:
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Reference for clinicians on
understanding assessment
Buy Applied Statistics for Counselors
Resource Link: A – Z Test Index
The information about
scales and measures is provided for clinicians and researchers based on
professional publications. The links to authors, materials, and references can
change. You may be able to locate details by contacting the main author of the
original article or another author on the article list.
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