Reliability And Validity Of The Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale For Children In Adolescents With Depression

Objective:To explore the reliability and validity of Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale for Children（DAS-C）in adolescents with depression,the purpose of this study is to provide measurement tools for the research on dysfunctional attitudes of adolescents in China.Methods: A total of 204 adolescents with depressive disorders were collected from June 2021 to December 2021 in Daizhuang Hospital of Shandong Province for exploratory factor analysis,children’s negative automatic thought scale（CATS）,Baker self-rating depression scale-II（BDI-II）and Baker self-rating anxiety scale（BAI）were used to test the validity of the scale.Forty-seven adolescents were randomly selected and retested after an interval of two weeks.All the collected data were statistically analyzed by SPSS24.0software.Results:1.Through exploratory factor analysis,a model is obtained,which is composed of cognitive philosophy,compulsion and seeking approval.2.The results of criterion correlation validity showed that the correlation coefficients between the total scores of DASC and the total scores of BDI-II,BAI and CATS were 0.685,0.574 and 0.759 respectively（all P< 0.001）.3.The Cronbach α of the scale is 0.930,and the Cronbachα of each factor is 0.795-0.899.The Spearman-Brown of the scale is 0.917,and the Spearman-Brown of each factor is0.722-0.879.4.The total DAS-C score of moderate to severe depression was significantly higher than that of mild depression（t=-9.503,p<0.001）,and the total score of DAS-C of moderate to severe anxiety was significantly higher than that of mild anxiety（t=-7.4,p<0.001）.5.There was no significant difference in DAS-C scores between male and female adolescents（t=-0.717,p>0.05）.Conclusion:1.DAS-C has good reliability and validity in adolescents;2.DAS-C supports a three-factor model,namely cognitive philosophy,compulsion and seeking approval;3.The total score of DAS-C has a good correlation with BDI-II,BAI and CATS,which can predict depression and anxiety to a certain extent.4.The score of DAS-C is related to the degree of depression and anxiety.The more serious the degree of depression and anxiety is,the higher the score is.5.There was no significant gender difference in DAS-C score.