TESTING THE DISCRIMINANT AND CONVERGENT VALIDITY OF THE MOOD AND ANXIETY SYMPTOMS QUESTIONNAIRE USING A BRITISH SAMPLE

The tripartite model of Clark and Watson (1991) was investigated by ex amining the discriminant and convergent validity of the Mood and Anxie ty Symptoms Questionnaire (MASQ) using a sample of British students. T he performance of the MASQ compared very favourably with that of the H ospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The MASQ Anxious Arousal and Anhedonic Depression sub-scales were best able to discriminate bet ween anxiety and depression and showed high levels of convergent valid ity. The HADS Anxiety and Depression scales, on the other hand, showed a distinct lack of discriminatory ability suggesting that they both m easure depression and/or general distress symptoms. These findings sup port those of previous research in that although anxiety and depressio n share a general distress element, they can be discriminated by conce ntrating on specific symptoms. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.