Evaluation of the Children's Depression Inventory-Short Version (CDI-S)

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Psychometrics

Background:

• The Children's Depression Inventory-Short Version (CDI-S) is a frequently used abbreviated scale.
• Rigorous psychometric evaluation of the CDI-S compared to the original CDI is limited.
• Understanding the psychometric properties of the CDI-S is crucial for accurate childhood depression assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the dimensionality, convergent and discriminant validity, and gender differences of the CDI-S.
• To determine if the CDI-S can be reliably interpreted as a single measure of depression.
• To investigate the relationship between CDI-S scores, anxiety, and socioeconomic factors in children.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory factor analyses and a bifactor model were used to assess CDI-S dimensionality.
• Convergent validity was examined by correlating CDI-S scores with another depression measure.
• Discriminant validity was assessed via correlation with an anxiety measure, and gender and socioeconomic differences were analyzed.

Main Results:

• A bifactor model indicated that the CDI-S primarily measures a general depressive factor, supporting its interpretation as a univocal scale.
• The CDI-S demonstrated high convergent validity with a depression measure and moderate-to-high discriminant validity with an anxiety measure.
• Girls reported significantly higher depressive symptoms than boys; socioeconomic factors correlated negatively with boys' depressive symptoms.

Conclusions:

• The CDI-S is a psychometrically sound, univocal measure for assessing childhood depression.
• Findings highlight gender differences in reported depressive symptoms and socioeconomic influences in boys.
• Future research should explore the CDI-S validity across a wider age range.