Validez y confiabilidad de la Escala de Valoración del Estado de Ánimo, en el contexto de la pandemia por COVID-19

Introduction: The Mood Rating Scale is an instrument designed to assess transitory mood states; however, studies on its psychometric properties to measure mood states of longer duration, such as those induced by a pandemic, are unknown. Objective: To examine the evidence of construct validity and reliability of the Mood Rating Scale in university students in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru. Methods: Instrumental study, conducted at the Autonomous University of Ica-Peru, during July to November 2020, in 288 university students. An item variability analysis, an Exploratory Factor Analysis and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, which included the Generalized Least Squares estimation method, were carried out; reliability was evaluated and mood states were compared with socioeducational variables. Results: The findings confirm excellent item variability indices from 5.82 to 9.84; a four-dimensional structure was evidenced that explained 80.38% of the total variance and an acceptable fit. Internal consistency showed a satisfactory index (α=0.92) and the subscale anxiety (0.90); hostility (0.95); joy (0.86) and depression (0.88). The items discriminated satisfactorily; as well as, the subscales, according to the socioeducational variables. Conclusion: The new version of the scale has acceptable metric properties; therefore, its use is recommended for measuring transient or prolonged mood states in university students and validation studies.