Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2000;9(9):1015-29.
doi: 10.1023/a:1016673003237.

The evaluation of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale: Depressed and Positive Affect in cancer patients and healthy reference subjects

M J Schroevers  1 , R Sanderman, E van Sonderen, A V Ranchor
Affiliations

The evaluation of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale: Depressed and Positive Affect in cancer patients and healthy reference subjects

M J Schroevers et al. Qual Life Res. 2000.

Abstract

This study examined the reliability and validity of a two-factor structure of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. The study was conducted in a large group of cancer patients (n = 475) and a matched reference group (n = 255). Both groups filled in a questionnaire at two points in time; patients 3 and 15 months after diagnosis. Factor analysis confirmed our hypothesis that the 16 negatively and four positively formulated items measure two relatively independent factors, i.e. Depressed Affect and Positive Affect. Therefore, these items should not be combined into an overall sumscore. In both groups, Depressed Affect proved to be a reliable and valid measure of depressive symptomatology, as indicated by its good internal consistency, its strong correlations with other measures of psychological distress and neuroticism, and its effectiveness in discriminating patients from the reference group on depressive symptomatology. In contrast, the validity of the Positive Affect factor could not be confirmed, since it was only weakly related to other measures of psychological distress and extraversion. Depressed and Positive Affect were about equally related to self-esteem, life satisfaction, and quality of life. These findings support the use of a sumscore based on the 16 negatively formulated CES-D items as a more valid measure of depressive symptomatology, in cancer patients and in healthy individuals from the general population.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Psychol Bull. 1998 Sep;124(2):197-229 - PubMed
    1. Psychosomatics. 1990 Fall;31(4):434-40 - PubMed
    1. Soc Sci Med. 1984;19(8):831-7 - PubMed
    1. Psychol Rep. 1998 Dec;83(3 Pt 1):915-9 - PubMed
    1. Cancer. 1990 Mar 1;65(5):1242-54 - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources