Psychometric Properties of the DASS-21 Among Latina/o College Students by the US-Mexico Border

Abstract

Anxious-depression symptomatology is frequently encountered among Latina/o individuals. There is a dearth of studies that examine this mixed class of anxiety and depression symptomatology, especially among Latina/o college students by the US-Mexico border. A total of 505 participants from rural institutions of higher education completed the DASS21. Psychometric properties were measured by means of confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted to determine gender differences in depression, anxiety and stress. Among women, 18 % reported at least moderate levels of depressive symptoms, 33.1 % reported at least moderate levels of anxiety symptoms, and 16.4 % reported at least moderate levels of stress. In men, 15.9 % reported at least moderate levels of depressive symptoms, 34.1 % reported at least moderate levels of anxiety symptoms, and 12.9 % reported at least moderate levels of stress. The EFA supported a one dimension factor (anxious/stress-depression) among this sample of Latina/o college students (Bartlett's test = 4960.9; df = 210; p ≤ 0.01; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin = 0.95). The MANOVA found no significant gender differences in depression, anxiety symptomatology and stress [Wilks'Λ = 0.99; F = (3, 500) = 2.41; p = 0.07]. The DASS-21 showed a one dimensional construct of anxious/stress-depression symptomatology in a Latina/o rural undergraduate sample, raising awareness to the need to screen and monitor this constellation of symptoms.

The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 in Chinese Hospital Workers: Reliability, Latent Structure, and Measurement Invariance Across Genders

“…Patrick et al (2010) evaluated the underlying structure of the DASS-21 in Australian children and adolescents sample, and the results showed that the test was difficult to distinguish between depression and anxiety and stress in this sample; it seems to measure a general distress dimension. Similarly in college students, Camacho et al (2016) identified a one-dimension factor (anxious/stress-depression) by using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Tran et al (2013) found that all items of the DASS-21 were loaded on one factor in the Vietnamese female sample, and they concluded that there were no subscales or combinations that could differentiate between depression and anxiety.…”

“…Instead, a two-factor model consisting of "physiological hyperarousal" and "general negative affect" can fully fit the data after correlating the error terms of two items. Furthermore, both Tran et al (2013) and Camacho et al (2016) identified a one-factor solution in non-clinical samples by using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (N = 221 and N = 505, respectively), and Camacho et al (2016) suggested that the items of the DASS-21 were best represented by one factor, namely, anxious/stress-depression factor. Thus, we aim to explore the latent structure of the DASS-21 in Chinese hospital workers.…”

Escala de Depressão, Ansiedade e Estresse: propriedades psicométricas e prevalência das afetividades

“…É importante destacar que, para esse ajustamento, foi necessária a remoção do item 2 (do fator ansiedade) devido ao baixo peso fatorial apresentado. Esse resultado também foi encontrado em outros estudos 10,14,17,32 e, portanto, nossa decisão em excluí-lo vai ao encontro da literatura. A presença do item 2 gerou redução da variância explicada pelo fator Ansiedade e prejudicou a validade convergente desse fator, o que pode ser explicado pela significativa relação teórica do conteúdo desse item com os fatores Depressão e Estresse, e não apenas com o fator Ansiedade.…”

“…Contudo, considerando a ocorrência de situações em que uma versão mais curta do instrumento é desejável, os autores 3 apresentaram uma versão reduzida da DASS com 21 itens, denominada DASS-21. Essa versão do instrumento tem sido aplicada em diferentes países 6,8,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] , incluindo o contexto luso-brasileiro 5,6,8,14,19 . No Brasil, Vignola e Tucci 6 e Patias et al 14 aplicaram a DASS-21 em indivíduos adultos, idosos e adolescentes, respectivamente, no intuito de investigar as medidas de validade e confiabilidade desse instrumento.…”

“…Alguns pesquisadores 10,12,13,15 relatam, ainda, maior prevalência 10 e escores médios 12,13,15 de depressão, ansiedade e estresse entre as mulheres, o que pode ser atribuído a fatores sociais, biológicos ou psicológicos 15 e ao fato de as mulheres exprimirem suas emoções mais facilmente do que os homens 12 . Dessa forma, a avaliação e a comparação da prevalência de depressão, ansiedade e estresse entre homens e mulheres pode ser relevante para direcionar o planejamento de estratégias visando ao cuidado com a saúde mental.…”