Instrument reference
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales — short form (DASS-21)
Public domain (developer statement) Licence statement checked
- Construct measured
- Three dimensions of negative emotional states: depression, anxiety and stress (tension).
- Category
- Psychological distress
- Intended population
- Adults; separate youth version (DASS-Y) exists.
- Number of items
- 21 items, 7 per scale (short form of the 42-item DASS).
- Administration format
- Self-report questionnaire.
- Scoring approach
- Scale sums; the developers instruct that DASS-21 scale scores are multiplied by 2 to compare with DASS-42 norms. This catalogue does not reproduce items or scoring tables.
- Language and population validation
- Many translations listed by the developers; quality and validation vary — check each.
Reliability and validity evidence
- Developed to separate depression from anxiety more clearly than earlier measures; compared with the Beck inventories in the original psychometric work. — Lovibond & Lovibond (1995)
Interpretation cautions
- Dimensional severity measure, not a diagnostic instrument.
- Severity labels are descriptive and are not clinical cut-offs for diagnosis.
Copyright and licence
Public domain (developer statement)
Developer FAQ: the DASS questionnaire is public domain and permission is not needed to use it; the scales themselves may not be sold, and translations must also remain public domain.
The developer states the instrument is in the public domain. Confirm the exact version on the official page; translations may have their own conditions.
Official source
DASS FAQ (UNSW) (opens in a new tab)
Rights and evidence last verified: 2026-10-19.