Development and Validation of a New Adolescent Self-Report Scale to Measure Loss of Interest and Pleasure: The Anhedonia Scale for Adolescents

Anhedonia, the loss of interest and pleasure in previously enjoyable experiences, is a core symptom of depression and a characteristic of other mental health and physical health problems. Most self-report measures of anhedonia has been developed for use with adults and their suitability for adolescents is questionable. In this article, we describe the development and psychometric qualities of a new measure, the Anhedonia Scale for Adolescents (ASA), designed specifically for use with adolescents aged 11-18 years. Items were generated from in-depth qualitative interviews with depressed young people, and then reviewed by an independent group of young people and clinically qualified experts in adolescent mental health. After piloting the new scale (n = 66), we established the structural validity of the measure with two groups of young people using exploratory (n = 1057) and confirmatory (n = 1041) factor analysis. The final scale consisted of 14 items, with 1 general factor and 3 specific factors producing the best fit to the data, (1) Enjoyment, Excitement, and Emotional Flattening (negatively framed); (2) Enthusiasm, Connection, and Purpose (positively framed); and (3) Effort, Motivation, and Drive (negatively framed). The ASA had high test-retest reliability and converged with standardized measures of depression, negative symptoms of schizophrenia, pleasure, and positive affect. Findings from these analyses provided evidence of incremental validity, as the ASA was a stronger predictor of clinical group (high vs. low depressive symptoms) than existing measures used to assess anhedonia. The ASA has potential as a new clinical and research tool to assess adolescent anhedonia.

Automated summary

The article describes the development and psychometric qualities of a new measure, the Anhedonia Scale for Adolescents (ASA), designed specifically for use with adolescents aged 11-18 years. After piloting the new scale and conducting exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the final scale consisted of 14 items with 3 specific factors. The ASA showed high test-retest reliability and incremental validity as a predictor of clinical group compared to existing measures.