Performance of the CES-D and its Short Forms in Screening Suicidality and Hopelessness in the Community

• Published in: Suicide & life-threatening behavior Vol. 37; no. 1; pp. 79 - 88
• Main Authors: Cheung, Yin Bun, Liu, Ka Yuet, Yip, Paul S.F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.2007; Guilford Press; Guilford
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Community Mental Health Services - statistics & numerical data; Community Relations; Comparative Analysis; Depression (Psychology); Depressive Disorder, Major - epidemiology; Depressive Disorder, Major - psychology; Depressive Disorder, Major - therapy; Discriminant analysis; Epidemiology; Evaluation Methods; Female; Foreign Countries; Hong Kong; Hong Kong - epidemiology; Humans; Male; Mass Screening - methods; Measurement Techniques; Measures (Individuals); Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mortality; Pessimism; Polls & surveys; Population; Prediction; Prevalence; Prospective Studies; Psychological Patterns; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Response rates; Response Rates (Questionnaires); ROC Curve; Sample size; Scales; Screening Tests; Statistical Analysis; Studies; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted - statistics & numerical data; Suicides & suicide attempts; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Test Validity; Hong Kong; Abbreviated form; Medical screening; Performance; Suicide; Hope hopelessness
• ISSN: 0363-0234; 1943-278X
• DOI: 10.1521/suli.2007.37.1.79

A measurement scale should be short and quick to complete if it is to be practically useful. Drawing on data from a community‐based survey of 2,178 people in Hong Kong, we compared five short forms (5‐ to 10‐item) and the original version (20‐item) of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies–Depression Scale (CES‐D; Radloff, 1977) in predicting suicidal attempts and suicidal thoughts. Short forms with as few as nine items performed in ways very similar to the full version; a version with only five items had a detectable difference from the full version. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values in differentiating people with and without suicidal thought or attempt change almost linearly with the cut‐offs.