What Are We Measuring? An Evaluation of the CES-D Across Race/Ethnicity and Immigrant Generation

The sociological study of the mental health of racial-ethnic minorities depends on the measurement quality of the instruments used to evaluate mental health. A commonly used instrument in research on mental health disparities, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), has not be...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSocial forces Vol. 83; no. 4; pp. 1567 - 1601
Main Authors Perreira, Krista M., Deeb-Sossa, Natalia, Harris, Kathleen Mullan, Bollen, Kenneth
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chapel Hill, NC The University of North Carolina Press 01.06.2005
University of North Carolina Press
Oxford University Press
Subjects
Acculturation
Adolescents
Analysis
Causal analysis
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale
Cognition
Cross Cultural Studies
Depression (Psychology)
Depressive disorders
Epidemiologic studies
Epidemiology
Ethnicity
Evaluation
Health problems
Health Research
Health surveys
Hispanics
History, theory and methodology
Immigrants
Longitudinal Studies
Measurement
Measurement Problems
Measurement techniques
Measures (Individuals)
Measures (Instruments)
Mental depression
Mental Health
Mental health services
Methodology
Minority & ethnic groups
Minority Groups
Modeling
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
National Surveys
Psychometric Analysis
Psychometrics
Quantitative psychology
Race
Racial differences
Racial profiling
Scales
Social aspects
Sociology
Suicidal ideation
United States of America
United States Of America
United States
United States > US
Follow-up study
Multivariate Analysis
Evaluation
Depression
Mental Health
Methodology
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Summary:The sociological study of the mental health of racial-ethnic minorities depends on the measurement quality of the instruments used to evaluate mental health. A commonly used instrument in research on mental health disparities, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), has not been thoroughly validated for use in the multiethnic and foreign-born populations currently living in the U.S. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this analysis provides the first multiethnic evaluation and psychometric analysis of the CES-D by acculturation level among youth ages 12-20. Correcting for the measurement problems contained in the CES-D improves the ability to detect differences in depression across ethnocultural groups, and to identify relationships between depression and other outcomes.
Bibliography:We are grateful to Bernadette Gray-Little, participants in the Add Health Users Workshop and anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions that contributed significantly to this paper. We are especially thankful for the Russell Sage Foundation for support of this research. This research uses data from Add Health, a project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design.
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ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1353/sof.2005.0077