Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Did not apply to me at all.
- Applied to me to some degree, or some of the time.
- Applied to me to a considerable degree, or a good part of the time.
- Applied to me very much, or most of the time.
- Did not apply to me at all.
- Applied to me to some degree, or some of the time.
- Applied to me to a considerable degree, or a good part of the time.
- Applied to me very much, or most of the time.
- Did not apply to me at all.
- Applied to me to some degree, or some of the time.
- Applied to me to a considerable degree, or a good part of the time.
- Applied to me very much, or most of the time.
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) Test - Description and methodology of the test
A bad week rarely comes with a label. It can feel flat and joyless, jumpy and breathless, or simply too tense to switch off. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales were built to tell these three apart, and this page gives you the short version with its original statements. Anyone looking for a stress anxiety depression test gets a separate score for each state, plus one number for the whole week.
What the three scales measure
The DASS-21 questionnaire was published by Peter and Sydney Lovibond in 1995 as the short form of a 42-item original. It has 21 statements, seven per scale, mixed in a fixed order. The depression scale covers dysphoria, hopelessness, a low sense of worth, lost interest and the feeling that life has lost its meaning. The anxiety scale covers the body side of fear: a dry mouth, trembling, laboured breathing and a racing heart without exertion, plus the feeling of being close to panic. The stress scale covers trouble winding down, nervous energy, impatience with interruptions and a tendency to over-react. Because the three states often rise together, the overall score comes first: it adds every answer and is shown from 0 to 100.
How the answers are counted and read
Each statement asks how much it applied to you over the past week, on four steps from “did not apply to me at all” to “applied to me very much, or most of the time”. The steps count as 0, 1, 2 and 3, so each scale runs from 0 to 21. In DASS-21 scoring the seven answers of a scale are simply added up, and research that compares results with the 42-item form doubles that sum. Your result shows:
- the overall score from 0 to 100, shown first;
- depression, anxiety and stress from 0 to 21, each with a low, moderate or high level;
- the statements that pushed each scale up;
- how your week compares with people in your country.
Answer quickly and think of the whole week, not one unusual day. Because the statements stay the same, many people come back after a fortnight and compare the overall score and the three scales side by side.
- Lovibond, S. H., & Lovibond, P. F. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (2nd ed.). Sydney: Psychology Foundation of Australia.
- Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(3), 335-343.
- Antony, M. M., Bieling, P. J., Cox, B. J., Enns, M. W., & Swinson, R. P. (1998). Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales in clinical groups and a community sample. Psychological Assessment, 10(2), 176-181.
- Henry, J. D., & Crawford, J. R. (2005). The short-form version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21): Construct validity and normative data in a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44(2), 227-239.