Measurement Invariance in the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) Scale among English-Speaking Whites and Asians.

Tsukasa Kato

doi:10.3390/ijerph18105298

Abstract

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale has been widely used to measure depressive symptoms. This study compared the measurement invariances for one-, two-, three-, and four-factor models of the CES-D across English-speaking Whites and Asians: White Americans, White Australians, Indians, Filipinos, and Singaporeans. White Americans and Australians, Indians, Filipinos, and Singaporeans English speakers (782 men and 824 women) whose ages ranged from 20 to 79 years, completed the CES-D. They were recruited from the data pool of the 2013 and 2014 Coping and Health Survey. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the original four-factor model showed the best fit, compared to the other models. Mean and covariance structure analyses showed that the factor means of the CES-D subscales among Whites were significantly lower than were those among Asians; the score gap was particularly high between Whites and Indians. Additionally, Indians scored the highest on all subscales of the CES-D compared to all other countries. Overall, CES-D scores among Whites were lower than those among Asians.

Highlights

According to a face-to face household survey of community adults [1], the 12-month prevalence of mood disorders in Asia and America ranges from 1.7% to 3.1% and 4.8% to9.6%, respectively; depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scores were ranked in descending order as follows: Indians, Singaporeans, Filipinos, and White Americans and Australians
The results on the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) indicated that only the four-factor model was acceptable across all samples

Summary

Introduction

According to a face-to face household survey of community adults [1], the 12-month prevalence of mood disorders in Asia and America ranges from 1.7% to 3.1% and 4.8% to9.6%, respectively; depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale [2] is a 20-item self-reported questionnaire designed to measure depressive symptoms among general populations It has been widely used in many countries with many racial/ethnic groups [3]; in a list of the 100 mostcited papers of all time by Nature in 2014 [4], the article [2] reporting on the development of the CES-D was 51st (N = 17,055 citations). Radloff [2] originally proposed a four-factor model for the CES-D, comprising depressed affect, somatic complaints, interpersonal problems, and positive affect. This four-factor structure has been extensively replicated, among

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Discussion

Conclusion