Depressive Symptoms
Title
Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD) Short Form
Study
PMBC
Copyright Information
Available in the public domain
Primary References
1. Radloff, L. S. (1977). . Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385-401.
2. Andresen, E. M., Carter, W. B., Malmgren, J. A., & Patrick, D. L. (1994), . American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 10, 77-84.
Purpose
To assess depressive symptomatology in the general population.
Type of Measure
Established. Short form versions of the CES-D have been found to be highly correlated with the full scale (r = .96) with little or no loss of sensitivity, specificity, or internal reliability (Shrout & Yager, 1989) and the 10-item scale administered in PMBC has been used extensively in epidemiologic research (e.g., Fried et al., 1991; Schulz, et al., 1997).
Description
Items are presented as self-descriptive statements. Respondents use a 4-point scale to rate the frequency with which they experienced the cognitions and affective and physical states described in the statements during the past week.
Scaling
0 = Rarely or none of the time, 1 = Some of the time, 2 = Occasionally, 3 = Most of the time
Number of Items
10
Sample Items
- I was bothered by things that don’t usually bother me
- I felt that everything I did was an effort
- I was happy (reversed)
Psychometrics
Reliability
- In a community sample (Shrout & Yager, 1989): Internal consistency, Cronbach’s α = 0.84
- In PMBC (n = 193): Internal consistency, Cronbach’s α = 0.68
Validity
The CES-D has been found to correlate with other measures of depressive symptoms and scores on the CES-D have been used to successfully identify cases of clinical depression.
Scoring
Reverse Items: 5, 8
Sum items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5R, 6, 7, 8R, 9, 10
Variables
Depressive Symptoms Total Score
Additional References
1. Fried, L. P., Borhani, N. O., Enright, P., Furberg, C. D., Gardin, J. M., Kronmal, R. A., et al. (1991). . Annals of Epidemiology, 1, 263-276.
2. Schulz, R., Newsom, J., Mittelmark, M., Burton, L. Hirsch, C., & Jackson, S. (1997). Health effects of caregiving: . Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 19, 110-116.
3. Shrout, P. E., & Yager, T. J. (1989). . Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 42, 69-78.