Abstract
Clark & Watson(1991)proposed a tripartite model of depression and anxiety that divided related symptoms into three groups : symptoms of high negative afect that are commonly experienced by both the depressed and anxious, manifestations of low positve affect that are specific to depression, and symptoms of autonomic arousal that are relatively unique to anxiety. In the present study we constructed a multidimensional depression and anxiety symptom scale(MDAS)to assess depression and anxiety symptoms based on the tripartite model. Four hundred sixty-three(463)undergranduates completed the MDAS during psychology classes. Exploratory factor analysis revealed three factors : negative affect(NA), physiological arousal(AR), and positive affect(PA). NA was found to correlate moderately with the other two factors, but the correlation between the two specific factors was close to zero. Additional data found correlations with other scales that were consistent with the predictions of the tripartite model.
