Discriminant validity of the MASQ in a clinical sample

Abstract

A major weakness of the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ) is that its discriminant validity has not been demonstrated in a clinical population of anxiety and mood disorder patients. This paper, using 470 anxiety and mood disorder patients, assessed the discriminant validity of the MASQ. The MASQ subscales showed statistically significant discriminant validity, but their maximum ability to discriminate is low at 70%. Overall it was concluded that the MASQ had very weak clinical utility in differentiating anxiety and mood disorder patients, and gave rise to doubts as to the tripartite structure of the MASQ. When using the MASQ, future researchers should be mindful of its limitations when applied in a clinical population.