The Factor Structure, Predictors, and Percentile Norms of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale in the Dutch-speaking Adult Population of Belgium. Issue 1 (18th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wu, Qian; Erbas, Yasemin; Brose, Annette; Kuppens, Peter; Janssen, Rianne
• Is Part Of: Psychologica belgica. Volume 56:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 12
• Publication Date: 2016-01-18
• Subjects: depression -- the CES-D -- second-order factor -- MIMIC -- percentile norms
• DOI: 10.5334/pb.261
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2054-670X

Abstract

The Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is a commonly used self-report scale to measure depressive symptoms in the general population. In the present study, the Dutch version of the CES-D was administered to a sample of 837 Dutch-speaking adults of Belgium to examine the factor structure of the scale. Using confirmatory factory analysis (CFA), four first-order models and two second-order models were tested, and the second-order factor model with three pairs of correlated error terms provided the best fit to the data. Second, five socio-demographic variables (age, gender, education level, relation status, and family history of depression) were included as covariates to the second-order factor model to explore the associations between background characteristics and the latent factor depression using a multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) approach. Age had a significantly negative effect on depression, but the effect was not substantial. Female gender, lower education level, being single or widowed, and having a family history of depression were found to be significant predictors of higher levels of depression symptomatology. Finally, percentile norms on the CES-D raw scores were provided for subgroups of gender by education level for the general Dutch-speaking adult population of Belgium.