Longitudinal Measurement Invariance of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21)

ABSTRACT

The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) is a commonly used screener of mental health symptoms, and researchers continue to study the scale’s psychometric properties in different cultures and age groups. We tested the longitudinal measurement invariance of the DASS-21 across two time points on a sample of 312 Filipino adolescents. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated adequate fit between the hypothesized three-factor solution and the data from the adolescent sample. The DASS-21 also exhibited strict longitudinal invariance, and the subscales also displayed adequate reliability in the two time points. The results are the first demonstration of longitudinal invariance with a Filipino sample and provide evidence that DASS-21 can be useful in both screening and in monitoring severity of different categories of symptoms over time, particularly among school-based Filipino youth.