Male Depression Risk Scale

The Male Depression Risk Scale (MDRS-22) assesses six domains of externalising or atypical depression symptoms: (1) Emotion Suppression, (2) Drug Use, (3) Alcohol Use, (4) Anger & Aggression, (5) Somatic Symptoms, and (6) Risk-Taking via self-report (relative to the preceding month). Originally developed in Australia, the MDRS-22 has been revalidated in a nationally representative Canadian male sample and found to have sensitivity relative to the PHQ-9 in identifying men with a recent (past 2-week) suicide attempt. Test re-test reliability has also been established.

A 5-option Likert scale response option was published in 2021.

A brief 7-item version of the MDRS has recently been developed and is also available.

The MDRS-22 (8-option Likert), MDRS-22 (5-option Likert) and the MDRS-7 are freely available for non-commercial use, and downloadable here:

mdrs-22-8-point-Likert Download

mdrs-22-5-point-Likert Download

mdrs-7 Download

Original Article:

Rice, S. M., Fallon, B. J., Aucote, H. M., & Möller-Leimkühler, A. M. (2013). Development and preliminary validation of the male depression risk scale: Furthering the assessment of depression in men. Journal of Affective Disorders, 151(3), 950-958. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.08.013

5-option Likert Revision Article

Herreen, D., Rice, S., Currier, D., Schlichthorst, M., & Zajac, I. (2021). Associations between conformity to masculine norms and depression: age effects from a population study of Australian men. BMC Psychology, 9(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00533-6

7-item MDRS Article:

Hereen D, Rice SM & Zajac I. (2022). Brief assessment of male depression in clinical care: Validation of the Male Depression Risk Scale Short Form in a cross-sectional study of Australian men. BMJ Open. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/3/e053650

Example publications citing the MDRS-22:

Rice, S. M., Kealy, D., Seidler, Z. E., Oliffe, J. L., Levant, R. F., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2020). Male-type and prototypal depression trajectories for men experiencing mental health problems. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(19), 7322. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17197322

Seidler, Z. E., Rice, S. M., Kealy, D., Wilson, M. J., Oliffe, J. L., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2021). Men’s shame and anger: Examining the roles of alexithymia and psychological distress. The Journal of Psychology, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2021.1977598

Rice, S. M., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Kealy, D., Seidler, Z. E., Dhillon, H. M., & Oliffe, J. L. (2019). Validity of the Male Depression Risk Scale in a representative Canadian sample: sensitivity and specificity in identifying men with recent suicide attempt. Journal of Mental Health, 28(2), 132-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2017.1417565

Rice, S. M., Kealy, D., Oliffe, J. L., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2019). Externalizing depression symptoms among Canadian males with recent suicidal ideation: A focus on young men. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 13(2), 308-313. https://doi.org/10.1111/eip.12667

Kealy, D., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Rice, S. M., & Oliffe, J. L. (2018). Alexithymia, suicidal ideation and health-risk behaviours: a survey of Canadian men. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 22(1), 77-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/13651501.2017.1324992

Rice, S. M., Purcell, R., & McGorry, P. D. (2018). Adolescent and young adult male mental health: transforming system failures into proactive models of engagement. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(3), S9-S17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.07.024

Rice, S. M., Kealy, D., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., & Oliffe, J. L. (2018). Male-type depression symptoms linked to broader psychopathology. Journal of Affective Disorders, 235, 523–524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.04.062

Rice, S. M., Oliffe, J. L., Kealy, D., & Ogrodniczuk, J. S. (2018). Male depression subtypes and suicidality: Latent profile analysis of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a representative Canadian sample. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 206(3), 169-172. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000000739

Rice, S. M., Oliffe, J. L., Kelly, M. T., Cormie, P., Chambers, S., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., & Kealy, D. (2018). Depression and prostate cancer: Examining comorbidity and male-specific symptoms. American Journal of Men’s Health, 12(6), 1864-1872. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988318784395

Rice, S. M., Aucote, H. M., Eleftheriadis, D., & Möller-Leimkühler, A. M. (2018). Prevalence and co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing depression symptoms in a community sample of Australian male truck drivers. American Journal of Men’s Health, 12(1), 74-77. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988315626262

Rice, S. M., Aucote, H. M., Möller-Leimkühler, A. M., & Amminger, G. P. (2017). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Gotland Male Depression Scale in an Australian community sample. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 33(3), 190-195. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000287

Kealy, D., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Rice, S. M., & Oliffe, J. L. (2017). Pathological narcissism and maladaptive self-regulatory behaviours in a nationally representative sample of Canadian men. Psychiatry Research, 256, 156-161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.06.009

Rice, S. M., Fallon, B. J., Aucote, H. M., Möller-Leimkühler, A., Treeby, M. S., & Amminger, G. P. (2015). Longitudinal sex differences of externalising and internalising depression symptom trajectories: Implications for assessment of depression in men from an online study. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 61(3), 236-240. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020764014540149

Oliffe, J. L., Rossnagel, E., Seidler, Z. E., Kealy, D., Ogrodniczuk, J. S., & Rice, S. M. (2019). Men’s depression and suicide. Current Psychiatry Reports, 21(10), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1088-y