Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine· 2026Q2
Translation and Validation of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale in Telugu Language
- 0citations
- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) has been successfully translated into Telugu and validated in 533 Indian volunteers, demonstrating excellent internal consistency and convergent validity with other psychological measures.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- The DASS-21 was translated into Telugu using forward and backward translation by multilingual specialists.
- Confirmatory and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling supported a general distress factor model.
- The Telugu DASS-21 exhibited excellent internal consistency.
- The scale showed significant positive correlations with GAD-7, PHQ-9, and SPANE-N, indicating convergent validity.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Background: The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) is an extensively followed self-report measure for assessing negative emotional states. The current research aimed to translate the original English version of DASS-21 into Telugu and to evaluate its validity within a Telugu-speaking population in India. Methods: The DASS-21 was rendered into Telugu using separate translations (forward and backwards) by multilingual specialists. A total of 533 Indian volunteers participated in the research and completed a set of questions. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported both one-factor and three-factor models. Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) demonstrated superior model fit and further indicated the existence of a dominant general distress factor underlying all the items. Besides that, bifactor analysis revealed a very good model fit, supporting the existence of a strong general distress factor alongside the specific depression, anxiety, and stress dimensions. The Telugu DASS-21 manifested excellent internal consistency. It further exhibited a significant positive correlation with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the negative effect dimension of the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE-N). Conclusions: The Telugu translated version of the DASS-21 demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties, including structural validity, internal consistency, and convergent validity. The findings support the assessment of psychological distress among Telugu-speaking populations and suggest that the scale primarily reflects a broad general distress construct while retaining domain-specific symptom dimensions. Further studies can examine additional psychometric properties and validate the scale in diverse and clinical populations.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 2026 · DOI ↗
The rest is in the Pofolia app
Takeaways and questions to the paper; new summaries every day for your field. Free.
Sign in on the web to openField: Social Psychology
Social PsychologyPsychology