ERIC Number: EJ1469093
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1530-5058
EISSN: EISSN-1532-7574
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Psychometric Properties of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) across Nine Countries/Regions
Cristian Zanon1; Nan Zhao2; Nursel Topkaya3; Ertugrul Sahin4; David L. Vogel2; Melissa M. Ertl5; Samineh Sanatkar6; Hsin-Ya Liao7; Mark Rubin8; Makilim N. Baptista9; Winnie W. S. Mak10; Fatima Rashed Al-Darmaki11; Georg Schomerus12; Ying-Fen Wang13; Dalia Nasvytiene14
International Journal of Testing, v25 n2 p178-193 2025
Examinations of the internal structure of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) have yielded inconsistent conclusions within and across cultural contexts. This study examined the dimensionality and reliability of the DASS-21 across three theoretically plausible factor structures (i.e., unidimensional, oblique three-factor, and bifactor) as well as measurement equivalence/invariance of the DASS-21 using two different approaches (i.e., multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and the alignment approach) with a large, diverse sample of 2,920 young adult college student participants from nine countries/regions (i.e., Australia, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Taiwan, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, and the United States). Results showed an excellent fit of the bifactor model in all countries/regions except the UAE and the US in which the model did not converge. Regarding parameter equivalence, we found configural, threshold, and loading invariance for the oblique three-factor model (across the nine studied countries/regions) and for the bifactor model (across seven countries/regions). Results indicate that DASS-21 scores measure a general psychological distress factor with more validity and reliability than depression, anxiety, or stress constructs independently. Findings supported the bifactor structure of DASS-21 and demonstrated that cross-cultural comparisons using this scale should be conducted using proper procedures, such as the alignment approach.
Descriptors: Anxiety, Depression (Psychology), Psychometrics, Cultural Context, Cultural Differences, Factor Structure, Error of Measurement, College Students, Reliability, Factor Analysis, Foreign Countries, Cross Cultural Studies, Goodness of Fit, Scores
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Developmental Psychology and Personality, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil; 2Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA; 3Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Faculty of Education, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Türkiye; 4Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Faculty of Education, Amasya University, Amasya, Türkiye; 5Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA; 6Black Dog Institute, Randwick, NSW, Australia; 7Department of Psychology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA; 8Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, UK; 9Stricto-Sensu Postgraduate Program in Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas-PUC-Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil; 10Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong; 11Department of Psychology, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE; 12Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, Leipzig, Germany; 13Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan (R.O.C.); 14Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania