Factor Structure of the CES‐D and Measurement Invariance Across Gender in Mainland Chinese Adolescents

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The primary aim was to examine the depressive symptom structure of Mainland China adolescents using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). DESIGN: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were simultaneously conducted to determine the structure of the CES-D in a large scale, representative adolescent samples recruited from Mainland China. Multigroup CFA (N = 5059, 48% boys, mean = 16.55±1.06) was utilized to test the factorial invariance of the depressive symptom structure, which was generated by EFA and confirmed by CFA across gender. RESULTS: The CES-D can be interpreted in terms of 3 symptom dimensions. Additionally, factorial invariance of the new proposed model across gender was supported at all assuming different degrees of invariance. CONCLUSION: Mainland Chinese adolescents have specific depressive symptom structure, which is consistent across gender.