{ "abstract": "Background: The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale for Youth (DASS-Y) has been validated in several countries, but its measurement equivalence between Middle Eastern and East Asian adolescents remains untested, and prior validations primarily relied on single analytic approaches without examining complex factor structures or brief screening forms. This study evaluated the DASS-Y in Lebanese adolescents enduring sociopolitical strain and Chinese adolescents under comparatively stable conditions. Methods: The sample comprised 758 Lebanese (M age = 15.95, SD = 1.78; 63.2% female) and 1,062 Chinese adolescents (M age = 16.83, SD = 0.59; 47.5% female). Psychometric properties were examined using confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), and bifactor variants of both. Differential item functioning was assessed using Rasch analysis. Reliability was indexed by composite reliability (CR), average variance extracted (AVE), and person separation reliability. Results: Lebanese adolescents showed a largely unidimensional pattern, whereas an ESEM solution better represented the Chinese data. Reliability was strong in both samples (subscale CR = 0.91 to 0.95, AVE = 0.58 to 0.71, person separation reliability = 0.79 to 0.85; total CR = 0.97 in both samples; total AVE = 0.63 for the Lebanese and 0.61 for the Chinese sample). Several items, mainly in the stress subscale, functioned non-equivalently across samples. The 12-item short form performed comparably (subscale CR = 0.88 to 0.92, AVE = 0.65 to 0.73; total CR = 0.96 and 0.94; total AVE = 0.64 and 0.57, respectively). Conclusions: Lebanese adolescents’ responses reflected a unitary distress construct, whereas Chinese adolescents’ responses showed greater differentiation among depression, anxiety, and stress, though a general distress factor remained dominant in both samples. Reliability was high throughout, so this divergence is structural rather than a matter of measurement precision. The 12-item form offers a practical screening option pending further cross-national confirmation.", "abstract_shown": true, "affiliations": [ "Faculty of Education, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China.", "Center of Teaching Quality Monitoring and Assessment, Jining University, Jining, China.", "School of Information Engineering, Shandong Youth University of Political Science, Jinan, China.", "The Tunisian Center of Early Intervention in Psychosis, Department of Psychiatry \"Ibn Omrane\", Razi Hospital, Manouba, Tunisia.", "Tunis El Manar University, Faculty of Medicine of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.", "Department of Social and Education Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese American University, Jbeil, Lebanon.", "Chinese Academy of Education Big Data, Faculty of Education, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, China.", "Graduate School, Stamford International University, Bangkok, Thailand.", "Faculty of Education, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang, China.", "Sports Psychology Department, Guangzhou Sport University, Guangdong, China.", "School of Education and Psychology, Minnan Normal University, Zhangzhou, Fujian, China.", "Stamford International University, Bangkok, Thailand.", "School of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon.", "Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan.", "Department of Psychology, Sociology and Social Work, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain." ], "article_type": "Research Article", "arxiv": null, "author_total": 10, "authors": [ { "affs": [ 0, 1 ], "name": "Changhong Huang" }, { "affs": [ 2 ], "name": "Xiu-Mei Chen" }, { "affs": [ 3, 4 ], "name": "Feten Fekih-Romdhane" }, { "affs": [ 5 ], "name": "Sahar Obeid" }, { "affs": [ 6, 7 ], "name": "I-Hua Chen", "orcid": "0000-0001-6999-6406" }, { "affs": [ 8 ], "name": "Xiao-Ling Liao" }, { "affs": [ 7, 9 ], "name": "Ping Xu" }, { "affs": [ 10, 11 ], "name": "Zeng-Han Lee" }, { "affs": [ 12, 13 ], "name": "Souheil Hallit", "orcid": "0000-0001-6918-5689" }, { "affs": [ 14 ], "name": "Olga Malas" } ], "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/22amfgmbxmfa6.bib", "cited_by": 0, "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0360807", "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13686488", "id": "22amfgmbxmfa6", "issns": [ "1932-6203" ], "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0360807", "language": "eng", "licence": "CC-BY", "licence_label": "CC BY", "licence_source": "article", "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "metadata_licence": null, "native_subjects": [ [ "openalex", "3205|Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Emotions" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Emotions/Anxiety" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Psychological stress" ], [ "plos", "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Psychometrics" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Mental health and psychiatry/Mood disorders/Depression" ], [ "plos", "/Medicine and health sciences/Mental health and psychiatry/Psychological stress" ], [ "plos", "/People and places/Population groupings/Age groups/Children/Adolescents" ], [ "plos", "/People and places/Population groupings/Families/Children/Adolescents" ], [ "plos", "/Research and analysis methods/Microscopy/Electron microscopy/Scanning electron microscopy" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Emotions" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Emotions/Anxiety" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Psychological stress" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Psychology/Psychometrics" ], [ "plos", "/Social sciences/Sociology/Education/Schools" ] ], "openalex": "W7223116501", "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13686488?pdf=render", "pmcid": "PMC13686488", "pmid": "42905745", "published": "2026-10-21", "publisher": "Public Library of Science", "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/22amfgmbxmfa6.ris", "sources": [ { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:23Z", "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0360807", "source": "plos", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0360807" }, { "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:53Z", "native_id": "MED:42905745", "source": "europepmc", "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42905745" } ], "subjects": [ { "field": "medicine", "origin": "plos:mental health and psychiatry", "subfield": "psychiatry" } ], "title": "Cross-national validation of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale for Youth (DASS-Y) in Lebanese and Chinese adolescents", "title_text": "Cross-national validation of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale for Youth (DASS-Y) in Lebanese and Chinese adolescents", "type": "peer-reviewed", "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:53Z", "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/22amfgmbxmfa6", "venue": "PLOS One", "versions": [] }