Frontiers in Psychology (Oct 2018)

Measurement Invariance of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 Across Gender in a Sample of Chinese University Students

  • Shan Lu,
  • Shuqing Hu,
  • Yuhuan Guan,
  • Jing Xiao,
  • Dan Cai,
  • Zhihua Gao,
  • Zhiqin Sang,
  • Jie Wei,
  • Xiaochi Zhang,
  • Jürgen Margraf

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02064
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) has three 7-item subscales (depression, anxiety, and stress). The current study aims assess the gender-based measurement invariance of the DASS-21 questionnaire in a Chinese university student sample from five different cities. The sample was composed of 13208 participants (62.3% female, mean age of 19.7 years, and SD age = 1.8). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis supported full measurement invariance for the three subscales. The findings support the measurement invariance of DASS-21 scores across gender. Future research on the DASS should include additional validation across ethnicities and testing of all versions of the DASS.

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