The Depressive Cognition Scale: further psychometric evaluation

Depressive cognitions often precede the development of affective and behavioral symptoms of depression. Cognitive factors have been shown to influence the development of depression in older adults and thus identification of depressive cognitions is important for prevention of clinical depression and early intervention. The Depressive Cognition Scale (DCS) assesses cognitions that may precipitate clinical depression, and it has been found to be internally consistent and to demonstrate construct validity with measures of psychosocial development. This psychometric investigation was designed to further examine the construct validity of the DCS through comparison with measures of hypothetically related constructs. An alpha of .78 indicated acceptable internal consistency. Construct validity was demonstrated by significant correlations with measures of depression, resourcefulness, adaptive functioning, and life satisfaction. The study, conducted with 160 healthy elders, provides additional support for the reliability and validity of the DCS and yields promising evidence of its usefulness with elderly persons.