The gap between the demand and delivery of mental health services in mainland China can be reduced by validating freely available and psychometrically sound psychological instruments. The present research examined the Chinese version of the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21). Study 1 administered the DASS-21 to 1,815 Chinese college students and found internal consistency indices (Cronbach's alpha) of .83, .80, and .82 for the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress subscales, respectively, and .92 for the total DASS total. Test-retest reliability over a 6-month interval was .39 to .46 for each of the 3 subscales and .46 for the total DASS. Moderate convergent validity of the Depression and Anxiety subscales was demonstrated via significant correlations with the Chinese Beck Depression Inventory (r = .51 at Time 1 and r = .64 at Time 2) and the Chinese State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (r = .41), respectively. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the original 3-factor model with 1 minor change (nonnormed fit index [NNFI] = .964, comparative fit index [CFI] = .968, and root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .079). Study 2 examined the clinical utility of the Chinese DASS-21 in 166 patients with schizophrenia and 90 matched healthy controls. Patients had higher Depression and Anxiety but not Stress subscale scores than healthy controls. A discriminant function composed of the linear combination of 3 subscale scores correctly discriminated 69.92% of participants, which again supported the potential clinical utility of the DASS in mainland China. Taken together, findings in these studies support the cross-cultural validity of the DASS-21 in China. (PsycINFO Database Record

Olfaction is an important medium of social communication in humans. However, it is not known whether olfactory function is associated with social network size. This study aimed to explore the underlying neural mechanism between olfactory function and social network. Thirty-one healthy individuals participated in this study. Social network size was estimated using the Social Network Index. Olfactory function was assessed with the Sniffin’ Stick Test. The results showed that there is a significant positive correlation between the size of an individual’s social network and their olfactory sensitivity. We also found that amygdala functional connectivity with the orbitofrontal cortex appeared to be related to olfactory sensitivity and social network size.

Clinical and neuroimaging data support the idea that schizo-obsessive comorbidity (SOC), similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia (SCZ), may be a distinct brain disorder. In this study, we examined the strength of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between 19 subregions of the default mode network (DMN) and whole brain voxels in 22 patients with SOC features, 20 patients with SCZ alone, 22 patients with OCD, and 22 healthy controls (HC). The main results demonstrated that patients with SOC exhibited the highest rsFC strength within subregions of the DMN and the lowest rsFC strength between the DMN and subregions of the salience network (SN) compared with the other 3 groups. In addition, compared with HCs, all 3 patient groups exhibited increased rsFC between subregions of the DMN and the executive control network (ECN). The SOC and SCZ group both exhibited increased rsFC between subregions of the DMN and the middle temporal gyrus, but the OCD group exhibited decreased rsFC between them. These findings highlight a specific alteration in functional connectivity in the DMN in patients with SOC, and provide new insights into the dysfunctional brain organization of different mental disorders.