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The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale: Psychometric properties and relation to depression in an unselected adult population

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Abstract

The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), a self-report inventory of beliefs derived from Beck's (1967) cognitive theory of depression to measure depressionogenic “schemas” constituting predispositions to depression, was developed in student populations. The DAS was jointly administered with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to 275 hospital employees and their spouses, 105 males and 170 females, and its psychometric properties were examined. Six-week test-retest reliability of the DAS was .73 (p <.001). Modest item-total correlations and lack of factorial equivalence between the two short forms of the DAS suggest it is best conceptualized and treated as a whole. This conclusion is lent support by the DAS's alpha coefficient of .90. The DAS and the BDI were correlated .41. Reliability and validity data for the DAS thus support its use as a measure of depressionogenic beliefs in the unselected adult population. Mean scores on the DAS did not differ significantly as a function of gender, failing to support differential distribution of a predisposition to depression that is cognitive in nature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, St. Louis University, 221 North Grand Boulevard, 63103, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

    J. M. Oliver & Elayne P. Baumgart

Authors
  1. J. M. Oliver
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  2. Elayne P. Baumgart
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The research reported in this article was conducted by the second author under the supervision of the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Ph.D. degree in Clinical Psychology at St. Louis University.

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Oliver, J.M., Baumgart, E.P. The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale: Psychometric properties and relation to depression in an unselected adult population. Cogn Ther Res 9, 161–167 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01204847

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