Validity of the Male Depression Risk Scale in a representative Canadian sample: sensitivity and specificity in identifying men with recent suicide attempt

Abstract

Background: Clinical practice and literature has supported the existence of a phenotypic sub-type of depression in men. While a number of self-report rating scales have been developed in order to empirically test the male depression construct, psychometric validation of these scales is limited. Aim: To confirm the psychometric properties of the multidimensional Male Depression Risk Scale (MDRS-22) and to develop clinical cut-off scores for the MDRS-22. Method: Data were obtained from an online sample of 1000 Canadian men (median age (M) = 49.63, standard deviation (SD) = 14.60). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to replicate the established six-factor model of the MDRS-22. Results:..