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. 2018 Oct 31:9:2064.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02064. eCollection 2018.

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

Shan Lu  1 , Shuqing Hu  1 , Yuhuan Guan  1 , Jing Xiao  1 , Dan Cai  2 , Zhihua Gao  3 , Zhiqin Sang  4 , Jie Wei  5 , Xiaochi Zhang  6 , Jürgen Margraf  6
Affiliations

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

Shan Lu et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Chinese; DASS-21; confirmatory factor analysis; gender difference; measurement invariance.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Baseline model of theDASS-21. The standardized factor loadings and factor covariance for the three-factor model for male (female). The residuals are not shown in the figure. D, depression; A, anxiety; S, stress.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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