Measurement invariance of the Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS) across gender and ethnic groups of Asian, Caucasian, Black, and Hispanic

H N Cheung; Joanne M Williams; Y S Chan; Stella W Y Chan

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.035

Measurement invariance of the Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS) across gender and ethnic groups of Asian, Caucasian, Black, and Hispanic

J Affect Disord. 2022 Jul 1:308:221-228. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.035. Epub 2022 Apr 13.

Authors

H N Cheung¹, Joanne M Williams², Y S Chan³, Stella W Y Chan⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Arts and Social Sciences, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong. Electronic address: cheunghn@hkmu.edu.hk.
² Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
³ School of Applied Social Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
⁴ School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, United Kingdom.

PMID: 35429539
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.035

Abstract

Background: Major Depressive Disorder is a severe and highly disabling mental illness. Almost all self-reported questionnaires have overlooked the interpersonal symptoms of depression which are important across gender and culture. The Multidimensional Depression Assessment Scale (MDAS) developed by Cheung and Power (2012) entails comprehensive emotional, cognitive, somatic, and interpersonal subscales. It addresses the criticism that existing self-report depression scales might not cover sufficient phenomenological heterogeneity of depression. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the MDAS across gender and four major ethnic groups of Caucasian, Black, Asian and Hispanic, including reliability and concurrent validity against the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) and Patients Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). It also aimed to establish a stable factor structure across gender and ethnic groups and test the measurement invariance to enhance its potential for clinical use.

Methods: A community sample of 3499 participants from four ethnic groups were recruited via online crowdsourcing sites of Qualtrics and Amazon M Turk. Each individual completed a demographic questionnaire, the MDAS, CESD and PHQ-9.

Results: There was good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.90) and concurrent reliability across gender and ethnic groups. Strict measurement invariance was established for MDAS over a four-factor factor structure corresponding to the four subscales.

Conclusions: The MDAS showed good psychometric properties and measurement invariance of a four-factor structure, suggesting its potential to be used in clinical settings across gender and ethnic groups.

Limitations: Participants all answered the questionnaires in English, which could hinder cultural variations in their expression of symptoms.

Keywords: Culture; Depression; Measurement invariance; Psychometrics; Validation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Depression / psychology
Depressive Disorder, Major* / diagnosis
Ethnicity*
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Hispanic or Latino
Humans
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires