Internal Consistency and Validity of a Short Spanish Version (10‐Items) of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children and Adolescents (CES‐DC)

Abstract

Purpose: The 20‐item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children and Adolescents (CES‐DC) is an instrument for screening of depression with good psychometric properties. This study aimed to examine the construct validity in terms of structural and convergent validity, the internal consistency, and the concurrent validity of a shorter 10‐item version of this scale.Methods: This was a cross‐sectional validation study including 671 schoolchildren aged 9–11, from Cuenca, Spain. Depression was assessed using the 20‐item CES‐DC scale. We selected the 10 items with the highest factorial loading for a shorter version. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, fitness, and quality of life variables were considered to analyse convergent and discriminant validity.Results: For the structural validity, confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three‐factor latent structure for the 20‐item CES‐DC and a single factor in the 10‐item version. Internal consistency measured by Cronbach’s α and ω statistic were 0.85 for 20‐item CES‐DC and 0.84 for 10‐item CES‐DC. Intraclass correlation coefficient between the two scales was 0.94. Convergent validity was tested through the correlation coefficients and regression models between both either CES‐DC versions with body mass index, waist circumference, fitness, and quality of life measures, which were similar. For the concurrent validity, concordance analysis and the ROC curve showed an equivalent cut‐off point for the 10‐item CES‐DC. The 20‐item CES‐DC classified a total of 33.1% of the sample as at risk of depression, while the 10‐item CES‐DC classified 30.4%.Conclusion: This study indicates that both the 20‐item and 10‐item versions of the CES‐DC have good internal consistency and structural validity in schoolchildren. Therefore, this short version can be used as a reliable and valid instrument for screening depression that is less time consuming and easy to use in clinical and scholarly contexts, potentially improving early detection and intervention for depression.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03236337.