Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 1

Psychometric Properties of an Arabic Version of the

Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS).

Miriam Taouk Moussa Peter F. Lovibond

School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Roy Laube

Rockdale Community Mental Health Centre, Sydney, Australia

Correspondence: Peter F. Lovibond, School of Psychology, University of New

South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

Phone: 61 2 9385 3034 Fax: 61 2 9385 1193

Email: P.Lovibond@unsw.edu.au

Running head: PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE ARABIC DASS

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 2

Abstract

An Arabic version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) was developed. Its

psychometric properties were evaluated in an Australian immigrant sample (N=220) and

compared to the data reported by Lovibond and Lovibond (1995a) using the English

version of the DASS (N=720). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Arabic

DASS discriminates between depression, anxiety, and stress, but the extent of

differentiation between these negative emotional syndromes was less in comparison to the

English DASS. The factor loadings for all 42 items of the Arabic DASS were comparable

to those of the English DASS, and indicated that the items had been adequately and

appropriately translated and adapted. Analysis of exploratory items suggested by Arabic-

speaking mental health professionals failed to reveal any new items that were both

psychometrically adequate and theoretically coherent. Analysis of a bilingual sample

(n=24) indicated that use of English norms was appropriate for the Arabic DASS. The

results support the universality of depression, anxiety, and stress across cultures, and

provide initial support for the psychometric properties of the Arabic scales.

Key words: depression, anxiety, stress, Arabic, cross-cultural

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 3

The present study aimed to develop a measure of negative emotion in Arabic, and to

examine its psychometric properties. The proposed Arabic measure was developed to

reflect contemporary knowledge of negative emotion and take into account cultural issues

regarding the expression of symptoms.

Contemporary views on the structure of negative emotion have largely arisen from

the well-documented observation that scores from various instruments designed to

measure the states of depression and anxiety tend to be highly correlated (Clark &

Watson, 1991), and high rates of comorbidity exist among the anxiety and mood disorders

(Andrews, 1996). Clark and Watson (1991) proposed a tripartite model of anxiety and

depression, which claims that both states are characterised by symptoms of elevated

negative affect or general distress (e.g., distress, irritability), but that anhedonia (low

levels of positive affect, e.g., happiness, confidence, enthusiasm) is specific to depression,

and physiological hyperarousal (autonomic symptoms, e.g., trembling, sweating) is unique

to anxiety. Support for the tripartite view comes from independent lines of research with

similar aims. For example, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer,

1988; Beck & Steer, 1990), which was specifically designed to discriminate anxiety from

depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck & Steer, 1987), is

dominated by physiological autonomic symptoms.

Similarly, there is a partial correspondence between the Depression Anxiety Stress

Scales (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995b) and the tripartite model (Lovibond, 1998).

Specifically, the Depression scale appears to measure features that are unique to

depression (including but not restricted to low positive affect), and the Anxiety scale

measures features proposed to be unique to anxiety (physiological hyperarousal).

However, Lovibond and Lovibond (1995a) also propose that a third syndrome measured

by the DASS Stress scale can be distinguished from depression and anxiety and also from
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 4

negative affect. The Stress scale has been shown to measure a distinct negative emotional

syndrome, rather than nonspecific symptoms common to both depression and anxiety

(Lovibond, 1998). Such nonspecific symptoms were excluded from the DASS during its

development. Support for the existence of a third dimension comes from several studies

which demonstrate that the DASS Stress scale is an independent construct related to

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) (Brown,

Barlow, & Liebowitz, 1994; Brown, Marten, & Barlow, 1995; Lovibond, 1998; Lovibond

& Lovibond, 1995b; Lovibond & Rapee, 1993; Watson et al., 1995). Therefore, there is

emerging support for the existence of three separate syndromes of negative emotion.

Research has shown that the factor structure of the DASS is essentially the same in

clinical and nonclinical samples (Antony, Bieling, Cox, Enns, & Swinson, 1998; Brown,

Chorpita, Korotitsch, & Barlow, 1997). This consistency supports the idea that clinical

disorders, such as DSM-IV mood and anxiety disorders, represent an extreme or

pathological manifestation of basic emotional states that are represented on a continuum,

and may be discerned in nonclinical individuals.

At present, there is no single Arabic instrument available that reflects contemporary

thinking on the structure of negative emotion, has been psychometrically validated, and

has been developed with consideration of cross-cultural issues. Arabic translations are

available for a number of instruments, including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression

scale (El-Rufaie & Absood, 1987, 1995; El-Rufaie, Albar, & Al-Dabal, 1988), the Beck

Depression Inventory (Abdel-Khalek, 1998; West, 1985), the State-Trait Anxiety

Inventory (Abdel-Khalek, 1989), the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (El-Rufaie & Absood,

1994), the Manifest Anxiety Scale (Abdel-Khalek, 1986), and the Crown-Crisp

Experiential Index (CCEI), previously known as the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire

(Maghazaji, Alwash, Murtadah, & Hmoud, 1982). However, psychometric information

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 5

for these scales is limited, and it is not known whether they discriminate between anxiety

and depression. In addition, many of these scales have been directly translated without

attention being given to cross-cultural issues.

In considering cultural factors, a longstanding debate exists regarding the degree to

which negative emotions are universal or culture-specific. This debate has implications

for test development. Those who take the position that negative emotions are universal

argue that tests can be adapted for use in cultures other than the one in which they were

originally developed. Numerous studies document the translation and adaptation of

existing Western instruments for use in various non-Western cultures, and have shown

that these measures are reliable and appear to measure similar phenomena across different

population subgroups (Abdel-Khalek, 1989, 1998; El-Rufaie & Absood, 1994; Mollica,

Wyshak, de Marneffe, Khuon, & Lavelle, 1987; West, 1985). On the other hand, those

who argue that negative emotions are culture-specific claim that tests cannot be adapted

for use in cultures other than the one in which they were developed, and that tests must

therefore be developed for each culture individually. Consequently, it becomes

impossible to make cross-cultural comparisons using such measures without further

validation or adaptation.

Although the research strongly suggests that phenomena such as depression and

anxiety are universal, there is nonetheless evidence that symptoms may be expressed

differently in different cultures (Cheung, 1982; Cheung, Lau, & Waldmann, 1980;

Hughes, 1998; Kim, Li, & Kim, 1999; Kirmayer, Young, & Hayton, 1995; Kleinman,

1977, 1982; Manson & Kleinman, 1998; Thakker & Ward, 1998). It is therefore

important to be sensitive to local cultural and linguistic issues when developing a new

instrument. For example, it has been suggested that patients from non-Western cultures

‘somatise’ their emotional distress, in contrast with patients from Western cultures
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 6

(Goldberg & Bridges, 1988; Kleinman, 1982, 1987; Srinivasan, Srinivasa Murthy, &

Janakiramaiah, 1986; Zhang, 1995). On the other hand, it has been emphasised that it is

one thing to assert that non-Westerners present to doctors more often with somatic

complaints than Westerners do, but it is quite another to claim that they actually

experience more somatic symptoms (Mumford, 1993). In addition, language may not be

available to express particular emotional constructs (Littlewood, 1990; Lutz, 1985;

Mumford, 1993; Zhang, 1995).

These considerations have given rise to the notion of a conceptual translation (Laube

& Smith, 1994). In this approach, items of existing tests may be modified, and new ones

added, to target aspects of a phenomenon in addition to those included in the original

instrument (Brislin, 1986), thus providing a conceptually equivalent instrument and

allowing measurement of both ‘universal’ and ‘culture-specific’ aspects. The

development and use of culturally sensitive translations and interpretation of existing

measurement tools represents one way of overcoming at least some of the methodological

limitations mentioned above. General guidelines that are widely accepted for the

successful translation of instruments in cross-cultural research include a high quality

translation, blind back-translation, input from ethnic mental health professionals, and

piloting of the instrument in the target population (Brislin, 1970, 1986; Westermeyer &

Janca, 1997). In blind back-translation, one bilingual translates from the source to the

target language, and another translates back to the source without knowledge of the

original source.

Moreover, empirical methods are available to indicate whether phenomena such as

depression, anxiety, or stress are universal across cultures. Specifically, factor analysis of

the data gathered using culturally sensitive instruments can determine the presence of any

‘universal’ or ‘culture-specific’ aspects of syndromes. If there is a universal aspect to

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 7

these syndromes, it would be expected that the factor structure of the data gathered from a

set of items in one language would be similar to the factor structure of the data gathered

from the same set of items in the other language. Moreover, factor loadings can be used

for final item selection among original and new items. If it is found that new additional

items have the highest loadings, this would suggest a somewhat culturally specific aspect

of the syndrome(s), indicating that the syndrome(s) is(are) expressed differently in the

culture being studied. If, on the other hand, the original items had the highest loadings,

this would indicate strong universality of the syndrome(s).

Therefore the present research set out to develop a culturally sensitive version of an

existing instrument. The instrument employed for the purposes of this study, the DASS,

was chosen for several reasons. The DASS is a 42-item self-report questionnaire that was

specifically designed to distinguish between, and provide relatively pure measures of, the

three related and clinically significant negative emotional states of depression, anxiety,

and stress. It provides a quantitative (dimensional) measure of the severity of each

syndrome. The psychometric properties of the DASS have been demonstrated to be good

in numerous studies (Antony et al., 1998; Brown et al., 1997; Lovibond, 1998; Lovibond

& Lovibond, 1995a). Factor analytic studies have confirmed that the DASS items can be

reliably grouped into three scales, namely Depression, Anxiety, and Stress, in both

nonclinical (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995a) and clinical samples (Brown et al., 1997). The

DASS, therefore, reflects contemporary thinking on the nature of negative emotion, has

well established psychometric properties, and provides a measure of tension/stress as well

as depression and anxiety. Moreover, the DASS is widely used both in Australia and

overseas, in research studies, clinical assessment and outcome evaluation. It is therefore

an instrument that would be valuable for use with client populations from non-English

speaking backgrounds.
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 8

The aim of the present study was therefore to develop an Arabic version of the

DASS for the valid assessment and evaluation of the negative emotional states of

depression, anxiety, and stress in the Arabic-speaking population. The study employed a

mixed immigrant sample in Australia, ensuring that the instrument would be suitable for

people from a variety of Arabic-speaking countries and dialects.

Method

Participants

Participants of 18 years and older were recruited from community groups, via local

newspapers, Church groups, and community organisations as well as English language

schools (n = 213). Arabic-speaking clients of 18 years and older accessing services in the

South Eastern Area Health Service (Sydney) were also included in the sample (n = 7).

There were 125 females and 82 males (13 missing data for gender). The mean age was

41.6 years and the mean number of years of education was 12.8. The purpose of the study

was explained to all potential participants. It was made clear that participation was

completely voluntary, that they could withdraw their participation at any time without

penalty or prejudice, and that all information obtained was confidential. Participants were

provided with an Arabic version of the DASS to complete.

A separate bilingual sample (n=24) was recruited by the same means as described

above, as well as by placing advertisements in an Arabic newspaper.

Measures

The Arabic version of the DASS was based in the first instance on the original

(English) version of the instrument (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995b). The English DASS is

a 42-item instrument measuring current (“over the past week”) symptoms of depression,

anxiety, and stress. Each of the three scales contains 14 items. Participants are asked to
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 9

use a 4-point combined severity/frequency scale to rate the extent to which they have

experienced each item over the past week. The scale ranges from 0 (did not apply to me at

all) to 3 (applied to me very much, or most of the time). Scores for Depression, Anxiety,

and Stress are calculated by summing the scores for the relevant items.

Procedure

The DASS was adapted and translated according to guidelines that are widely

accepted for the successful translation of instruments in cross-cultural research, in order to

develop a culturally sensitive instrument (Brislin, 1970, 1986; Westermeyer & Janca,

1997). A four-phase procedure was used.

Phase 1: A professional, Level 3 National Australian Authority for Translators and

Interpreters (NAATI) accredited translator was employed to translate the 42-item version

of the DASS into Arabic. A blind back-translation (into English) was then performed by

another professional translator.

Phase 2: The primary investigator and other Arabic-speaking mental health professionals

compared the back-translated version with the original version, and reviewed the Arabic

translation in detail. Translated items that demonstrated the closest semantic equivalence

were retained. Items whose concepts appeared to be readily expressible in only the

English language were modified to obtain the closest semantic equivalence. In particular,

attention was given to the literacy level of the instrument, in an attempt to ensure that

individuals from a wide range of literacy levels would be able to comprehend and

complete the questionnaire. Moreover, special care was taken to remove all idioms,

making the translated instrument generalisable to all Arabic-speaking countries, as well as

all Arabic-speaking immigrant populations. In addition, new items which were thought to

tap aspects of the phenomena under study, and which were rated as relevant to the Arabic

culture by Arabic-speaking mental health professionals, were included in the instrument

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 10

for empirical and clinical evaluation. Seven trained Arabic-speaking mental health

professionals were directly involved in this process. Six were psychologists and one was a

mental health worker, and all working in community health or hospital settings.

The first draft of the Arabic questionnaire had a total of 50 items, including

translations of the original 42 DASS items and eight new exploratory items. The eight

exploratory items were: 'I was afraid of having to perform a trivial but unfamiliar task in

the presence of others' [Q43]; 'I found myself unable to do anything because my nerves

were very tired' [Q44]; 'I suffered from headaches' [Q45]; 'I felt a weakening and a

slowing in movement' [Q46]; 'I felt guilt without reason' [Q47]; 'I had a tendency to cry

easily' [Q48]; 'My appetite changed (e.g., lack of appetite, overeating)' [Q49]; 'My sleep

pattern changed (e.g., difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, difficulty getting

out of bed)' [Q50]. Item 44 contained a culture-specific phrase referring to tired nerves.

Phase 3: A field trial of the first draft of the Arabic questionnaire was then conducted.

Participants were assisted in completing the questionnaire if they requested assistance, and

in a minority of cases questionnaires were orally administered (these participants had had

little formal education and could not read). During this field trial, feedback was obtained

from Arabic-speaking mental health professionals and participants regarding the quality of

the translation of the instrument, including its clarity, comprehensibility, and acceptability,

and suggestions of cultural phrases for new items were also sought. Statistical analyses

were performed on the field trial data to allow items to be modified, excluded, or added to

the instrument.

Phase 4: Participants in the bilingual sample were sent both the Arabic and English

versions of the DASS, one week apart, in random order. Cover letters asked participants

to complete each questionnaire as it applied to them over the previous week, and to return

the questionnaire in a reply-paid envelope.

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 11

Results

Confirmatory factor analysis

The approach used to test the DASS factor structure was confirmatory factor

analysis, a procedure that tests a planned factor structure. Analysis of this type was used

in the development and refinement of the original English DASS (Lovibond & Lovibond,

1995a). The statistical program Lisrel 8.30 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1996) was used to test

the adequacy of the allocation of items to the three DASS scales using a covariance matrix

(N=220). This analysis was first conducted on the Arabic translations of the original 42

DASS items. The first model tested was a single factor model, which yielded a large and

significant chi-square value [2(819) = 2070.5, p < 0.05], indicating a significant

discrepancy between the model and the data. The adjusted goodness of fit index was 0.66.

A two-factor model was then tested in order to examine the validity of the distinction

between Depression and the other two DASS scales. This model yielded an improved fit

[2(818) = 1993.9, p < 0.05; adjusted goodness of fit = 0.67], and differed significantly

from the one-factor model [2(1) = 76.6, p < 0.05]. Next, three factors were defined,

corresponding to the three DASS scales. This model yielded a lower chi-square value

again [2(816) = 1867.29, p < 0.05; adjusted goodness of fit = 0.68], and provided a

significantly better fit than the two-factor model [2(2) = 126.64, p < 0.05]. The phi

coefficients, which assess the strength of the links between the three factors, were:

Depression-Anxiety 0.91; Anxiety-Stress 0.91; Depression-Stress 0.92. These

comparisons indicate that distinguishing between depression and the other two scales

yields a significant improvement in fit to the data, and that distinguishing between anxiety

and stress yields a further significant improvement in fit. Where indicated by

modification indices, items were reallocated to different scales but in no case were these

better than the original allocation of items to their corresponding scale.

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 12

In order to provide a reference point to evaluate the adequacy of the distinction

between the three DASS scales in the Arabic sample, the data used by Lovibond and

Lovibond (1995a) derived from the English version of the 42-item DASS (N = 720) were

reanalysed with confirmatory factor analysis. Unlike the published analysis, this analysis

was based on the covariance matrix, as recommended in the Lisrel manual (Joreskog &

Sorbom, 1996), so as to be directly comparable to the present analysis. The results for the

one-factor [2(819) = 9013.0, p < 0.05; adjusted goodness of fit = 0.59], two-factor

[2(818) = 5031.5, p < 0.05; adjusted goodness of fit = 0.72], and three-factor solutions

[2(816) = 4188.3, p < 0.05; adjusted goodness of fit = 0.76], and the differences between

the one-factor and two-factor solutions [2(1) = 3981.4, p < 0.05] and the two-factor and

three-factor solutions [2(2) = 843.3, p < 0.05], demonstrated a pattern similar to the

Arabic results. The phi coefficients were: Depression-Anxiety 0.58; Anxiety-Stress 0.74;

Depression-Stress 0.62. Thus, in both the Arabic and the English case, the three-factor

solution produced a significantly better fit than the one-factor and two-factor solutions. In

contrast, however, the degree of improvement in fit in the Arabic case is proportionately

much less in comparison to that in the English case. This finding suggests that the Arabic

items do not discriminate between the three factors as well as the English items. This

conclusion is also consistent with the very high phi coefficients for the Arabic sample,

which are considerably higher than the phi coefficients for the English sample.

Exploratory item analysis & item selection

A further confirmatory analysis allowed all eight new items to load on all three of

the factors corresponding to the three DASS scales. The loadings observed in the

completely standardized solution indicated that three out of the eight new items had the

potential to discriminate between the three DASS scales. These items were 'I found

myself unable to do anything because my nerves were very tired' [Q44]; 'I had a tendency
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 13

to cry easily' [Q48]; and 'My sleep pattern changed (e.g., difficulty falling asleep,

difficulty staying asleep, difficulty getting out of bed)' [Q50]. Each of these items was

taken in turn and allowed to load on all three DASS scales to determine whether or not it

would receive a sufficiently higher loading on one factor and relatively lower loadings on

the other two factors (the original 42 items were used to define the three DASS scales).

The completely standardized loadings in each case were as follows: Q44: Depression -

0.17, Anxiety 0.16, Stress 0.78; Q48: Depression 0.04, Anxiety 0.13, Stress 0.55; Q50:

Depression -0.01, Anxiety -0.05, Stress 0.67. Thus, all three items received relatively

higher loadings on the Stress scale and lower loadings on the other two scales. Each item

was again taken in turn and allowed to load on the Stress scale only. The completely

standardized loadings on the Stress scale in each case were as follows: Q44 0.76; Q48

0.70; Q50 0.61.

The results regarding questions 48 and 50, which are concerned with crying and

insomnia, are slightly inconsistent with the wider literature. Although these items

received moderate loadings on the Stress scale, they have been argued by both Lovibond

and Lovibond (1995a) and Clark (1989) to be nonspecific indicators of general distress.

The remaining item Q44, which includes a culture-specific phrase, was a potential item for

inclusion in the translated Stress scale. However, given the overwhelming similarity of

the overall factor structure to that observed in English-speaking samples, it was decided

that none of the eight exploratory items would be included, so as to maintain the

comparability of the Arabic and English questionnaires and therefore future cross-cultural

comparisons. It would be worthwhile for future research to consider the content of item

44 when generating and investigating the psychometric utility of culture-specific items.

Approximately 16% (n = 36) of participants and Arabic-speaking mental health

professionals involved in the field trial provided feedback regarding the quality of the
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 14

translation of the questionnaire and/or suggestions for cultural phrases of emotional

distress. All feedback regarding the quality of the translation, including its clarity,

comprehensibility, and acceptability was positive, although some commented that the

questionnaire itself was long and appeared to be repetitive. Of those who provided

feedback, approximately 33% (n = 12) made suggestions for additional markers of

emotional distress. Some of these included phrases such as 'difficulty concentrating' and

'difficulty making decisions'. Due to the fact, however, that such suggestions were made

by an extremely small number of respondents and no one suggestion was made by the

majority of these respondents, they were not used to generate new items to include in the

questionnaire. Moreover, none of these suggestions included culture-specific phrases of

emotional distress, and many had been shown in English to fail to discriminate between

depression and anxiety. Therefore, the final version of the Arabic DASS comprised of

translations of the original 42 DASS items. The DASS items and their factor loadings

from three-factor confirmatory factor analysis are listed in Table 1 for both the Arabic and

English samples. In general, the factor loadings of the translated Arabic items are

comparable to those of the English items.

___________________________

Insert Table 1 about here

___________________________

Descriptive statistics

Means and standard deviations for the three DASS scales (42 items) are provided in

Table 2 for the Arabic and English samples separately. A test of the differences in means

between the Arabic and English samples indicated that for each scale, the Arabic mean

was significantly higher than the English mean [Depression: t(938) = 7.85, p < 0.05;

Anxiety: t(938) = 11.82, p < 0.05; Stress: t(938) = 6.33, p < 0.05]. Intercorrelations
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 15

between the three scales are also shown in Table 2 for each sample. Consistent with the

factor analysis, the intercorrelations were much higher in the Arabic sample. Reliability

(alpha) coefficients for the three scales were Depression: 0.93; Anxiety: 0.90; Stress

0.93.

Bilingual sample

Table 3 lists the means and standard deviations for the three DASS scales from the

Arabic and English questionnaires in the bilingual sample. It can be seen that the

bilingual sample had substantially higher mean scores on all three scales compared to the

main Arabic sample, perhaps due to self-selection in those responding to newspaper

advertisements. Importantly, however, mean scores on the English version of the DASS

were virtually identical to scores on the Arabic version for all three scales (all ts(23)<1.2,

p>.05). Furthermore, inter-scale correlations for both the Arabic and English versions of

the DASS were high and comparable to the main Arabic-speaking sample.

___________________________

Insert Tables 2 and 3 about here

___________________________

DASS subscale analysis

During the development of the DASS, items in each scale were categorized into

subscales of 2-6 items (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995a). These subscales are more reliable

than the individual items of the DASS as they produce less error variance. Therefore, a

confirmatory factor analysis of the present data was carried out to evaluate the adequacy

of the allocation of subscales to three factors, corresponding to the three DASS scales.

The Depression subscales were Dysphoria, Hopelessness, Devaluation of life, Self-

deprecation, Lack of interest/involvement, Anhedonia, and Inertia. The Anxiety subscales

were Autonomic arousal, Skeletal musculature effects, Situational anxiety, and Subjective
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 16

experience of anxious affect. The Stress subscales were Difficulty relaxing, Nervous

arousal, Easily upset/agitated, Irritable/over-reactive, and Impatient. This analysis

(N=220) generated a better fit than the item-level analyses [2(101) = 197.51, p < 0.05;

adjusted goodness of fit = 0.86]. Once again, the same analysis was performed on the data

used by Lovibond and Lovibond (1995a; N = 720). As in the Arabic case, the English

subscale analysis provided a better fit than the item-level analyses [2(101) = 1005.95, p <

0.05; adjusted goodness of fit = 0.80]. Thus, the subscale analysis on the Arabic DASS is

comparable to that of the English DASS, and indicates that the subscales provide a useful

means of reducing the information contained in the 42 items.

Discussion

At present, well-established and empirically validated instruments for the

assessment of negative emotional states in the Arabic-speaking population are virtually

nonexistent. The aim of the present study was to develop an Arabic instrument that

reflects contemporary thinking about the structure of negative emotion, taking into

account cross-cultural issues, and to examine its psychometric properties. The study

developed an Arabic version of the DASS that consisted of translations of the original 42

DASS items. In general, the translated items behaved similarly to the original English

items. None of the eight exploratory items were judged to be both psychometrically

adequate and theoretically coherent.

The factor structure of the 42-item Arabic DASS was tested with confirmatory

factor analysis, which indicated that the three scales provided a better fit to the data than

either a one-factor or a two-factor solution. Moreover, confirmatory factor analysis on the

DASS subscales demonstrated a better fit to the data than the item-level analyses, for both

the Arabic and English DASS questionnaires. The results also demonstrated, however,
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 17

that while the Arabic DASS significantly discriminates between the negative emotional

syndromes of depression, anxiety, and stress, there is less differentiation between the

scales in comparison to the English DASS. This conclusion is supported by the high phi

coefficients, and by the relatively high chi-square and low adjusted goodness of fit index

for the three-factor solution, in comparison to the English DASS.

Nevertheless, the moderate-to-high factor loadings for the 42 items indicate that the

items are tapping into the constructs under study and have therefore been translated

adequately. They also indicate that the content of these items has meaning and is

acceptable within the Arabic-speaking population, which is consistent with the positive

feedback received from participants and Arabic-speaking mental health professionals

regarding the quality of the translation. Moreover, the pattern of factor loadings is

generally comparable to that of the English sample. Taken together, these results suggest

that the poorer discrimination between the Arabic DASS scales relative to the English

scales is more likely to be due to factors in this particular Arabic-speaking sample and/or

the Arabic-speaking population rather than the quality of the translation itself. This

conclusion is supported by the bilingual analysis, which showed even higher inter-scale

correlations for the English DASS than for the Arabic DASS when both were completed

by the same individuals.

Comparatively, the substantially higher means for all three Arabic scales in the

primary sample (N=220) suggest that the Arabic-speaking sample was experiencing

relatively higher negative affect. This is consistent with evidence which suggests that the

prevalence of emotional distress and mental illness is at least as high and often higher in

immigrants than in non-immigrants (Minas, Lambert, Kostov, & Boranga, 1996). It is

possible, therefore, that the relatively high associations between the DASS scales in the

Arabic participants may reflect in part their experience of elevated levels of general
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 18

emotional distress. Further research is necessary to investigate the factors responsible for

the greater degree of communality in emotional experience associated with the present

samples, and to investigate discrimination between the scales in other samples.

In summary, the present research provides preliminary support for the psychometric

properties of an Arabic version of the DASS. The Arabic DASS, which was developed to

be sensitive to cultural and linguistic issues, was shown to discriminate between the

negative emotional syndromes of depression, anxiety, and stress. The internal consistency

of each scale was very high. The study provides evidence for the universality of the

syndromes measured by the three DASS scales, and supports the development of

culturally sensitive translations and adaptations of existing measurement tools in cross-

cultural research. Moreover, the translation process ensured that individuals from a wide

range of literacy levels are able to comprehend and complete the questionnaire. The

Arabic DASS is particularly suitable for the purpose of regular assessment and evaluation

of treatment outcome.

It is important, however, that future research further investigates the utility and

psychometric properties of the Arabic DASS in a non-immigrant Arabic-speaking sample.

Further validation of the instrument will also enhance cross-cultural comparisons. Future

studies might continue to explore new items, particularly culture-specific questions that

could provide additional measures of the syndromes under study, and to evaluate and

compare their psychometric utility. It is also important to generate normative data for

both immigrant populations and populations from Arabic-speaking countries. Pending the

availability of such data, the results of the bilingual analysis suggest that the English

norms may be used for interpretation of scores on the Arabic DASS.

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 19

Acknowledgements - This research was supported by funding from the Transcultural

Mental Health Centre, Cumberland Hospital, North Parramatta, Sydney, NSW 2151,

Australia.
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 20

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 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 25

Table 1. List of DASS item summaries with factor loadings from three-factor confirmatory
analysis for the Arabic and English samples.

Arabic N=220 English N=720

Factor loadings Factor loadings
SCALE
1 2 3 1 2 3

DEPRESSION
couldn't experience positive [Q3] 0.55 -- -- 0.74 -- --
couldn't get going [Q5] 0.55 -- -- 0.34 -- --
nothing look forward [Q10] 0.69 -- -- 0.73 -- --
sad and depressed [Q13] 0.65 -- -- 0.61 -- --
lost interest everything [Q16] 0.73 -- -- 0.66 -- --
not worth much as person [Q17] 0.73 -- -- 0.71 -- --
life not worthwhile [Q21] 0.74 -- -- 0.75 -- --
couldn't get enjoyment [Q24] 0.74 -- -- 0.69 -- --
downhearted and blue [Q26] 0.75 -- -- 0.62 -- --
unable become enthusiastic [Q31] 0.72 -- -- 0.68 -- --
felt worthless [Q34] 0.80 -- -- 0.72 -- --
nothing future hopeful [Q37] 0.74 -- -- 0.69 -- --
life meaningless [Q38] 0.73 -- -- 0.74 -- --
difficult work up initiative [Q42] 0.64 -- -- 0.47 -- --

ANXIETY
dryness of mouth [Q2] -- 0.48 -- -- 0.44 --
breathing difficulty [Q4] -- 0.47 -- -- 0.41 --
shakiness [Q7] -- 0.66 -- -- 0.59 --
situations anxious [Q9] -- 0.46 -- -- 0.61 --
faint [Q15] -- 0.66 -- -- 0.45 --
perspired noticeably [Q19] -- 0.56 -- -- 0.33 --
scared no good reason [Q20] -- 0.69 -- -- 0.57 --
difficulty swallowing [Q23] -- 0.61 -- -- 0.41 --
aware action heart [Q25] -- 0.64 -- -- 0.46 --
close to panic [Q28] -- 0.78 -- -- 0.67 --
feared thrown [Q30] -- 0.69 -- -- 0.47 --
terrified [Q36] -- 0.74 -- -- 0.55 --
worried situations panic [Q40] -- 0.72 -- -- 0.54 --
trembling [Q41] -- 0.71 -- -- 0.60 --

STRESS
upset by trivial things [Q1] -- -- 0.48 -- -- 0.60
over-react to situations [Q6] -- -- 0.63 -- -- 0.61
difficult to relax [Q8] -- -- 0.71 -- -- 0.65
upset easily [Q11] -- -- 0.75 -- -- 0.70
using nervous energy [Q12] -- -- 0.79 -- -- 0.62
impatient when delayed [Q14] -- -- 0.65 -- -- 0.48
rather touchy [Q18] -- -- 0.70 -- -- 0.68
hard to wind down [Q22] -- -- 0.73 -- -- 0.46
very irritable [Q27] -- -- 0.83 -- -- 0.64
hard calm down [Q29] -- -- 0.72 -- -- 0.64
difficult tolerate interruptions [Q32] -- -- 0.67 -- -- 0.56
state nervous tension [Q33] -- -- 0.76 -- -- 0.68
intolerant kept doing [Q35] -- -- 0.66 -- -- 0.53
getting agitated [Q39] -- -- 0.76 -- -- 0.66
 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 26

Table 2. Means, standard deviations, and inter-scale correlations for the Arabic (N=220)

and English (N=720) samples.

Arabic English

Depression Anxiety Stress Depression Anxiety Stress

Mean 11.86 10.72 14.42 7.32 5.26 10.60

(SD) (9.73) (8.56) (10.17) (6.69) (4.96) (6.97)

Depression - .84 .87 - .52 .55

Anxiety - .85 - .63

 Psychometric Properties of Arabic DASS 27

Table 3. Means, standard deviations, and inter-scale correlations for the Arabic and

English DASS in the bilingual sample (N=24).

Arabic English

Depression Anxiety Stress Depression Anxiety Stress

Mean 19.33 18.17 20.38 18.54 17.75 19.88

(SD) (12.05) (12.54) (12.78) (12.40) (12.50) (12.23)

Depression - .93 .92 - .96 .92

Anxiety - .81 - .89