Meta-analysis of the factor structures of four depression questionnaires: Beck, CES-D, Hamilton, and Zung

Four separate metaanalyses of factor analyses were conducted for the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). The total number of participants (N) and studies (k) included in each of the metaanalyses were the following: BDI (N = 13,643, k = 33), CES-D (N = 22,340, k = 28), HRSD (N = 2,606, k = 17), and SDS (N = 12,621, k = 13). Metaanalysis results suggest that the specific depression symptom factors within each test appear to be relatively robust and well established and match fairly closely previously hypothesized factor structures. A general Depression Severity factor and a small Somatic Symptoms factor are found in all four tests and two tests had a small Positive Affect factor. There were fewer common specific depression symptom factors across tests than expected.