DASS (psychology) - Scales and Subscales

Scales and Subscales

The sum of the relevant 14 items for each scale constitute the participants' scores for each of Depression, Anxiety and Stress, including items such as "I couldn't seem to experience any positive feeling at all", "I was aware of the dryness of my mouth" and "I found it hard to wind down" in the respective order of the scales. The order of the 42 items has been randomised so that items of the same scale are not clustered together. Each of the scales is then broken down into subscales comprising two to five items each.

The Depression scale has subscales assessing dysphoria, hopelessness, devaluation of life, self-deprecation, lack of interest/involvement, anhedonia and inertia.

The Anxiety scale assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects, situational anxiety and subjective experience of anxious affect.

The Stress scale's subscales highlight levels of non-chronic arousal through difficulty relaxing, nervous arousal and being easily upset/agitated, irritable/over-reactive and impatient.