Ansiedade, depressão e stresse: um estudo com jovens adultos e adultos portugueses

At a European level, Portugal is one of the countries with the highest prevalence of mental disorders, especially anxiety disorders and mood disorders (Wang et al., 2011). Several researches have reinforced the strong relationship between anxiety disorders and stress responses, as well as a strong comorbidity between anxiety disorders and depression (e.g., Pais-Ribeiro, Honorado& Leal, 2004). In this sense, given the many factors that can contribute to the development of these disorders and their consequences on the well-being and quality of life, it becomes pertinent to study these emotional symptoms through appropriate instruments to the Portuguese population. This study evaluates the psychometric properties of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Pais-Ribeiro, Honorado, & Leal, 2004), and analyzes differences in these emotional symptoms considering socio-demographic variables. Participated 280 Portuguese adults and young adults (M = 37,34 years, SD = 11,46), who were administered the DASS-21, a self-report instrument consisting of 21 items that focus on the identification of emotional symptoms experienced in last week. The reliability analysis indicated internal consistency values of 0,831 for anxiety, 0,886 for depression, and 0,859 for stress. The model fit was assessed by a confirmatory factor analysis, and proven its quality in fit to the empirical data (X2/df = 1.853, CFI = 0,942, GFI = 0,896, RMSEA = 0,055). There were statistically significant differences in levels of anxiety, depression and stress by sex, age, academic background, and life satisfaction. Implications are drawn to the development of this research line.