Ziyu Ye,1,* Jinyu Li,1,* Bo Sun,2 Ji-Tao Li,1 Jing-Xu Chen,3 Shirley Ann Reynolds,4 Wentian Dong,1 Tianmei Si,1 Yun-Ai Su1 

1Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Beijing, 100191, People’s Republic of China; 2Qingdao Mental Health Center, Qingdao, 266034, People’s Republic of China; 3Beijing HuiLongGuan Hospital, Peking University HuiLongGuan Clinical Medical School, Beijing, 100096, People’s Republic of China; 4School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Tianmei Si, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Institute of Mental Health, No. 51 Huayuanbei Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, People’s Republic of China, Email si.tian-mei@163.com Yun-Ai Su, Peking University Sixth Hospital, Institute of Mental Health, No. 51 Huayuanbei Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, People’s Republic of China, Email suyunai@bjmu.edu.cn

Objective: Adolescent anhedonia (AA) exhibits distinct characteristics. Currently available anhedonia scales in Chinese are designed solely for adult populations. This investigation assessed the psychometric characteristics of the Chinese Anhedonia Scale for Adolescents (ASA-C) across clinical, subthreshold, and typically developing adolescent cohorts, while establishing its optimal cut-off for prominent anhedonia identification. The relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adolescent anhedonia was concurrently examined.
Methods: Random allocation divided participants into exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) validation sets. While internal consistency was evaluated in all groups, other psychometric properties were examined exclusively in major depressive disorder (MDD) participants. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted on the full sample to identify distinct subgroups. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis determined the optimal diagnostic threshold based on derived classifications. The Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) quantified dimensional characteristics of childhood adversity.
Results: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed a bifactor structure for the ASA-C (ie, positive and negative factors). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) demonstrated that this two-factor model exhibited satisfactory fit and achieved measurement invariance across all three groups. The scale displayed satisfactory internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and concurrent validity. Latent profile analysis (LPA) classified the full sample into two distinct subgroups. A cut-off value of 20.5 was determined to be most effective for identifying marked anhedonia. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between adverse childhood experiences and total scores on the ASA-C.
Conclusion: The ASA-C demonstrates robust reliability and validity for assessing anhedonia in Chinese adolescents, serving as a valuable tool for community screening, clinical assessment, and research applications.

Keywords: anhedonia, Chinese adolescents, depression, reliability, validity