Background: Up to date, there are handful questionnaires that have been validated in Bahasa Malaysia (BM). This study aimed to translate the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21-item (DASS-21) and measure its psychometric properties. Objectives: To determine the construct validity and acceptability of the DASS, BM. Methods: Two forward and backward translations were done in BM in accordance to guideline, and its validation was determined by using confirmatory factor analysis. A total of 263 subjects were selected by systematic random sampling to represent Malaysian population for reliability and validity purposes. Results: The BM DASS-21 had very good Cronbach’s alpha values of .84, .74 and .79, respectively, for depression, anxiety and stress. In addition, it had good factor loading values for most items (.39 to .73). Correlations among scales were between .54 and .68. Conclusions: BM DASS-21 is correctly and adequately translated to Bahasa Malaysia with high psychometric properties. Further studies are required to support these findings.

Bullying can be projected through many ways, are affected by many factors and can bring about a lot of consequences. The aim of this research was to identify the association between bullying factors such as age, gender, race, family income, family structure with bullying among high school students in one of Selangor high schools in year 2018 also its consequences towards depression, stress and anxiety. A cross sectional study was conducted among 337 students. The validated Multidimensional Peer-Victimization Scale (MPVS) and Mental Health Screening Status-20 (MHSS-20) questionnaire was used to classify the prevalence, types, associating factors and the consequences of bullying. The prevalence of bullying was found to be 63.5%. The percentage of bullying is higher among those with mean age of 14 years old. As for the gender, percentage among male is higher compared to female which is 62%. As for the family background, students who have family income above RM 7000 (about 1700 USD) has higher percentage of bullying which is 51.9%, and for students with low academic performance have the highest percentage of bullying (57%) and it was found that bullying was significantly associated with age and with p value of <0.001, gender of p value 0.009, academic performance shows p value of 0.049 and mental health status with <0.001 p value.
Bullying ; High school students ; Mental Health