Testing the discriminant and convergent validity of the mood and anxiety symptoms questionnaire using a British sample

The tripartite model of Clark and Watson (1991) was investigated by examining the discriminant and convergent validity of the Mood and Anxiety Symptoms Questionnaire (MASQ) using a sample of British students. The performance of the MASQ compared very favourably with that of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The MASQ Anxious Arousal and Anhedonic Depression sub-scales were best able to discriminate between anxiety and depression and showed high levels of convergent validity. The HADS Anxiety and Depression scales, on the other hand, showed a distinct lack of discriminatory ability suggesting that they both measure depression and/or general distress symptoms. These findings support those of previous research in that although anxiety and depression share a general distress element, they can be discriminated by concentrating on specific symptoms.