title: Development and validation of a 30-item short adaptation of the Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire (MASQ).
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands. k.j.wardenaar@lumc.nl
authors.forename: Klaas J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Wardenaar
authors.forename: Tineke
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van Veen
authors.forename: Erik J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Giltay
authors.forename: Edwin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Beurs
authors.forename: Brenda W J H
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Penninx
authors.forename: Frans G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Zitman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D055815:Young Adult