Development and Initial Validation of a Brief, Online Version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression...

A growing volume of mental health research is conducted with participants recruited and responding online. However, to date, few psychometric scales have been specifically validated for online research.

We aimed to devise a brief, 12-item version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in which first order factors are sufficiently measured.

We recruited 218 adults with depression and 226 comparison participants with no mental health history. Both groups completed the original 20-item CES-D and measures of social support, psychological distress, and sociodemographic information (eg, age, gender, and household income). Measurement of social support included online support, and psychological distress included symptoms of social media use disorder along with loneliness and life dissatisfaction.

This brief, 12-item version of the CES-D was devised with persons with depression and replicated with comparison participants. For both, core sadness, somatic symptoms, interpersonal detachment, and absence of well-being each significantly contributed to measurement of a higher-order depression latent construct (P<.01). Structural equation modeling was performed to establish the construct validity of this 4-factor model in which depression is predicted by socioeconomic factors and depression predicts lower social support as well as greater psychological distress.

Responses to this 12-item, online version of the CES-D demonstrate factorial and construct validity. Clinical research is required in future to ascertain whether scores greater than 11 (of 36) are suggestive of elevated depressive symptomology.