FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE DYSFUNCTIONAL ATTITUDE SCALE (FORM A) AND THE AUTOMATIC THOUGHTS QUESTIONNAIRE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

Dysfunctional attitudes are considered to be important risk factors in the onset and maintenance of depression. Thus, a psychometrically reliable and valid measure is necessary for understanding depression. The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) is widely used and has good psychometric properties, but there is no consensus about its factor structure. To examine its psychometric properties and factor structure, a total of 885 individuals consisting of patients with depression and healthy controls were evaluated. After the sample was randomly divided into two subsets, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. Then the DAS was abbreviated according to the factor profiles and theoretical background. Analyses indicated two factors, named Perfectionism/Achievement and Need for Approval/Dependency for the revised DAS . Reliability analyses revealed a good internal consistency, and the concurrent validity indicated significant correlations with the Beck Depression Inventory and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire.

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Dysfunctional attitudes in depressed and non-depressed substance abusers: an exploratory study

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1017/s0924933800001796 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 77-82 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

J Calache ◽

R Martinez ◽

SJ Verhulst ◽

M Bourgeois ◽

F Peyre

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Therapy ◽

Exploratory Study ◽

Substance Abusers ◽

Age Of Onset ◽

Cognitive Styles ◽

Attitude Scale ◽

Dysfunctional Attitudes ◽

Dysfunctional Attitude ◽

Dysfunctional Attitude Scale ◽

Maladaptive Thinking

SummaryThe authors examined whether substance abusers have more maladaptive thinking patterns than controls. The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) was administered to 38 substance abusers and 30 healthy age-matched controls. Nineteen substance abusers (50%) were depressed and 19 were non-depressed. Both depressed and non-depressed substance abusers had significantly higher DAS scores than controls. Depressed substance abusers had higher scores than non-depressed substance abusers. There was no correlation between age, sex, age of onset or the nature of the substance used and DAS scores in either group of patients. There was a trend for an elevation of DAS scores with chronicity of dependence among depressed substance abusers. The results support the hypothesis of the presence of maladaptive thinking patterns among substance abusers, and suggest a need for further exploration of their cognitive styles and of the use of cognitive therapy in the treatment of addiction.

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Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the 24-item Dysfunctional Attitude Scale

Acta Neuropsychiatrica ◽

10.1111/j.1601-5215.2007.00203.x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 19 (6) ◽

pp. 362-367 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Miyuki Tajima ◽

Tsuyoshi Akiyama ◽

Hatsue Numa ◽

Yoshiya Kawamura ◽

Yoshie Okada ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Clinical Sample ◽

Reliability And Validity ◽

Japanese Version ◽

Attitude Scale ◽

Automatic Thoughts ◽

Self Report ◽

Dysfunctional Attitude ◽

Three Samples ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Dysfunctional Attitude Scale

Background:The 24-item Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS-24) is a short version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, which is a self-report inventory for depressogenic schemata.Objective:The object of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the DAS-24 (DAS-24-J).Methods:Subjects consisted of non-clinical sample 1 (248 university students), non-clinical sample 2 (872 Japanese company employees) and a clinical sample (59 depressed out-patients).Results:Internal consistency was satisfactory in all three samples, Cronbach’s α coefficient being higher than 0.85. Test–retest reliability was satisfactory in non-clinical sample 1. The interclass correlation coefficient was 0.79 and there was no significant difference in the average score of DAS-24-J between the two points. The DAS-24-J showed satisfactory concurrent validity with the Japanese Irrational Belief Test-20 (r= 0.76); Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire – Revised total (r= 0.46), negative (r= 0.53) and positive (r=−0.41); and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (r= 0.44 for non-clinical sample, r= 0.63 for clinical sample). The clinical sample showed a significantly higher DAS-24-J score than non-clinical sample 2. According to a factor analysis combining all three samples, three factors were extracted: factor 1 (11 items) corresponded with ‘achievement’ in the original version, factor 2 (6 items) with ‘self-control’ and factor 3 (5 items) with ‘dependency’.Conclusion:The DAS-24-J is a reliable and valid instrument to measure depressogenic schemata in Japanese.

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