Longitudinal invariance of the Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised in adolescents

The Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) is a widely used interview measure of adolescent major depression (major depressive disorder), with sum scores and their changes over time interpreted as changes in one underlying construct. This interpretation assumes that the CDRS-R measures a single construct of depression (unidimensionality) in the same way across time (longitudinal invariance)-assumptions that have yet to be established but were tested in this study. Adolescents (N = 197; ages 13-18 years old) with lifetime major depressive disorder, as well as healthy controls, completed the CDRS-R and a self-reported depression symptom measure, the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS), at baseline and 6 months follow-up. Unidimensionality of the CDRS-R at both time points was tested using the one-factor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Longitudinal invariance of the factor structure was examined in a CFA framework, and longitudinal invariance of the construct validity was examined by testing whether the correlation between the CDRS-R and IDAS was equivalent across time. The one-factor CFA model with correlated uniqueness among the three observational items demonstrated excellent fit. Longitudinal invariance of the factor structure (invariant uniqueness) and construct validity was achieved. At both baseline and 6-month assessments, the CDRS-R demonstrated good internal consistency (αs > .89) and was highly correlated with the IDAS (> 0.70). Findings support the practice of comparing observed scores of the CDRS-R between the baseline and the 6-month assessment among adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).