Abstract
The Depression–Anxiety–Stress Scales (DASS; P. F. Lovibond & S. H. Lovibond, 1995) have shown considerable promise in their ability to differentially assess depression and anxiety symptoms. Most of the work to date has relied on normal or predominantly anxious clinical samples. To extend this research to a predominantly depressed sample, a psychiatric sample from a mood disorders program (N = 439) was used to investigate the factor structure of the DASS. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a 3-factor model for the 21-item DASS was supported. A 3-factor model with crossloading items for the 42-item version showed no practical improvement. Further confirmatory analyses evaluated the ability of item subsets from the DASS to represent the constructs specified in the tripartite model (L. A. Clark & D. Watson, 1991). Strong support was obtained for the DASS to represent the construct of anhedonia and physiological hyperarousal, and their relative importance is consistent with predictions of the tripartite model in understanding the relationship between anxiety and depression.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
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, 176–181.
Arbuckle, J. L., & Wothke, W. (1999). Amos 4.0 user's guide. Chicago, IL: Smallwaters Corporation.
Beck, A. T., Epstein, N., Brown, G., & Steer, R. (1988). An inventory for measuring clinical anxiety: Psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 893–897.
Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive Therapy of Depression. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238–246.
Brown, T. A., Chorpita, B. F., & Barlow, D. H. (1998). Structural relationships among dimensions of the DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders and dimensions of negative affect, positive affect, and autonomic arousal. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 179–192.
Brown, T. A., Chorpita, B. F., Korotitsch, W., & Barlow, D. H. (1997). Psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Scales (DASS) in clinical samples. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 79–89.
Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A. Bollen & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136–162). Sage: Newbury Park, CA.
Byrne, B. M. (1988). Measuring adolescent self-concept: Factorial validity and equivalency of the SDQ-III across gender. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 23, 361–375.
Clark, D. A., Steer, R. A., & Beck, A. T. (1994). Common and specific dimensions of self-reported anxiety and depression: Implications for the cognitive and tripartite models. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 645–654.
Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (1991). Tripartite model of anxiety and depression: Psychometric evidence and taxonomic implications. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 316–336.
Cox, B. J., Enns, M. W., Borger, S. C., & Parker, J. D. A. (1999). The nature of depressive experience in analogue and clinically depressed samples. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 15–24.
Joiner, T. E., Catanzaro, S. J., & Laurent, J. (1996). Tripartite structure of positive and negative affect, depression, and anxiety in child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 401–409.
Joiner, T. E., Steer, R. A., Beck, A. T., Schmidt, N. B., Rudd, M. D., & Catanzaro, S. J. (1999). Physiological hyperarousal: Construct validity of a central aspect of the tripartite model of depression and anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 290–298.
Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (1986). LISREL VI: Analysis of linear structural relationships by maximum likelihood, instrumental variables, and least squares methods. Mooresville, IN: Scientific Software.
Lovibond, P. F. (1998). Long-term stability of depression, anxiety, and stress syndromes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 520–526.
Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 335–343.
McDonald, R. P., & Marsh, H. W. (1990). Choosing a multivariate model: Noncentrality and goodness of fit. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 247–255.
Mineka, S., Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1998). Comorbidity of anxiety and unipoloar mood disorders. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 377–412.
Raykov, T. (1998). On the use of confirmatory factor analysis in personality research. Personality and Individual Differences, 24, 291–293.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1997). Using multivariate statistics (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Harper Collins.
Watson, D., Weber, K., Assenheimer, J. S., Clark, L. A., Strauss, M. E., McCormick, R. A. (1995). Testing a tripartite model: I. Evaluating the convergent and discriminant validity of anxiety and depression symptom scales. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 3–14.
Watson, D., Weber, K., Assenheimer, J. S., Strauss, M. E., McCormick, R. A. (1995). Testing a tripartite model: II. Exploring the symptom structure of anxiety and depression in student, adult, and patient samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 15–25.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Clara, I.P., Cox, B.J. & Enns, M.W. Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Depression–Anxiety–Stress Scales in Depressed and Anxious Patients. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment 23, 61–67 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011095624717
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011095624717