Psychometric properties of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale–21 (DASS-21) across nine countries/regions

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.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Testing
Published
2025-04-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/15305058.2025.2489359
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
13.84
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article

Psychometric properties of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale–21 (DASS-21) across nine countries/regions

Mark Rubin, Nan Zhao, Georg Schomerus, Ying-Fen Wang et al.
6 citations
International Journal of Testing
Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
13.84
article

Psychometric properties of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale–21 (DASS-21) across nine countries/regions

Mark Rubin, Nan Zhao, Georg Schomerus, Ying-Fen Wang, Hsin-Ya Liao, Dalia Nasvytienė, David L. Vogel, Fatima R. Al-Darmaki, Makilim Nunes Baptista, Ertuğrul Şahin, Nursel Topkaya, Cristian Zanon, Samineh Sanatkar, Melissa M. Ertl, Winnie W. S. Mak
article en
6 citations

Abstract

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.

International Journal of TestingVol. 25(2)
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart Üniversitesi (TR), University of Minnesota (US), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (BR), National Taiwan Normal University (TW), Black Dog Institute (AU), Vilnius University (LT), Iowa State University (US), Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (BR), Durham University (GB), Guidance (United Kingdom) (GB), Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology (CZ), Amasya Üniversitesi (TR), Washington State University (US), Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (BR), Zayed University (AE), Leipzig University (DE), Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (BR)
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
13.84
DOISourceOpenAlex
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