Confirmatory factor analysis of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale in black and white dementia...

In order to better understand if measurement problems underlie the inconsistent findings that exist regarding differences in depression levels between Black and White caregivers, this study examined the factor structure and invariance of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) Scale.

A confirmatory factor analysis of the 20-item CES-D was performed on a sample of 167 Black and 214 White family caregivers of older adults with dementia from Los Angeles County.

The relationships between the 20 items and the four factors, as well as the relationships among each of the factors, were equivalent across both caregiver groups, indicating that the four-factor model fit the data for both the racial groups.

These findings offer further evidence that the standard four-factor model is the best fitting model for the CES-D and is invariant across racial groups.