Development and validation of a 30-item short adaptation of the Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire (MASQ)

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 179; no. 1; pp. 101 - 106
• Main Authors: Wardenaar, Klaas J., van Veen, Tineke, Giltay, Erik J., de Beurs, Edwin, Penninx, Brenda W.J.H., Zitman, Frans G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30.08.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Anxiety; Anxiety - diagnosis; Anxiety - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Depression; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mood Disorders - diagnosis; Mood Disorders - psychology; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics - methods; Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Techniques and methods; Tripartite model; Validity; Young Adult; Validity; Depression; Anxiety; Tripartite model; Reliability; Abbreviated form; Human; Mood disorder; Affect affectivity; Foreign language version; Factor analysis; Questionnaire; Self evaluation; Anxiety disorder; Internal consistency; Psychometrics; Test reliability; Test validation; Construct validity; Symptomatology; Convergent validity; Test construction; Dutch
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2009.03.005

The original Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire (MASQ) is a 90-item self-report, designed to measure the dimensions of Clark and Watson's tripartite model. We developed and validated a 30-item short adaptation of the MASQ: the MASQ-D30, which is more suitable for large-scale psychopathology research and has a clearer factor structure. The MASQ-D30 was developed through a process of item reduction and grouping of the appropriate subscales in a sample of 489 psychiatric outpatients, using a validated Dutch translation, based on the original English MASQ, as a starting point. Validation was done in two other large samples of 1461 and 2471 subjects, respectively, with an anxiety, somatoform and/or depression diagnosis or no psychiatric diagnosis. Psychometric properties were investigated and compared between the MASQ-D30 and the full (adapted) MASQ. A three-dimensional model (negative affect, positive affect and somatic arousal) was found to represent the data well, indicating good construct validity. The scales of the MASQ-D30 showed good internal consistency (all alphas > 0.87) in patient samples. Correlations of the subscales with other instruments indicated acceptable convergent validity. Psychometric properties were similar for the MASQ-D30 and the full questionnaire. In conclusion, the MASQ-D30 is a valid instrument to assess dimensional aspects of depression and anxiety and can easily be implemented in psychopathology studies.