Brief report: The factor structure of mood states in an early adolescent sample

The purpose of this study was to examine the structure of negative mood states among young adolescents. Students (N=216) aged 11-15 years from a secondary school in Melbourne, Australia, completed the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales (DASS) [Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1996). Depression anxiety stress scales. Sydney: The Psychology Foundation of Australia Inc.]. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) failed to find support for a three-factor model. Further analyses suggested that items from the DASS were best represented by two factors, namely a generalized negativity factor and a factor comprising items indicating physiological arousal.