Development and Validation of the Multidimensional Adolescent Anhedonia Scale

We developed the Multidimensional Adolescence Anhedonia Scale (MAAS), a novel measure designed to assess not only consummatory and anticipatory, but also recall anhedonia in adolescents. In Study 1 (n = 623; M_age = 19 years), an initial item pool was tested across two subsamples of older adolescents. After exploring a 24-item version in Subsample A (n = 311), we confirmed its structure and developed a brief version in Subsample B (n = 312). This structure was further confirmed and validated in a younger adolescent sample (Study 2; n = 375; M_age = 16 years) who completed items at baseline and 6 months later. Across samples and versions of the measure, a three-factor solution with subscales reflecting consummatory, anticipatory, and recall anhedonia best fit the data. Our measure demonstrated internal consistency and test-retest reliability, concurrence with depression/reward processing scales, and convergence with other anhedonia measures. The MAAS may be used by researchers and clinicians to better understand the multidimensionality of adolescent anhedonia.