The Depression-Happiness Scale

Abstract

It is argued that there is a need for a measure which can quantify a continuum of affect and which is able to assess current frequency of mood for use in survey research with the general population. In a preliminary attempt to develop such a scale, a 40-item questionnaire containing items thought to tap feelings of depression and happiness was completed by 200 young people whose mean score on the Beck Depression Inventory was within that expected of a normal population. On the basis of factor analytic data, the 25 highest loading items were selected for inclusion into a bipolar Depression-Happiness Scale which was shown to have good internal reliability and concurrent validity with the Beck Depression Inventory.