Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children
The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) is a modified version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. This measure assesses both depressive symptoms as well as symptom improvement in a wide range of children and adolescents, ages 6–17. The CES-DC was first developed to measure the incidence and prevalence of depression among children and adolescents in large-scale epidemiological research. Several research studies have found the CES-DC to be a reliable and valid measure of depressive symptoms in children.Question breakdown and scoring
The CES-DC is an inventory of 20 self-report items regarding depressive symptoms, taking about 5 minutes to complete. Each item asks how often a symptom has occurred within the last week. Response choices are assigned point values, which are summed together to determine a total measure score. Response choices for each item and their corresponding point values are as follows: *0 points: "Not at all" *1 point: "A little" *2 points: "Some" *3 points: "A lot" Items 4, 8, 12 and 16 are phrased to reflect positive affect and behavior, and therefore are scored in opposite order as follows: *0 points: "A lot" *1 point: "Some" *2 points: "A little" *3 points: "Not at all "Interpretation
Scores on the CES-DC range from 0 to 60, in which higher scores suggest a greater presence of depressive symptoms. A score of 15 or higher is interpreted to indicate a risk for depression. However, screening for depression is a complex process and scoring a 15 or higher on the CES-DC should be followed by further evaluation.Limitations
A study evaluating the CES-DC found that the scores do not necessarily match up to a DSM diagnosis, and while it is a good psychometric tool for adolescents, reliability and validity is poor when applied to children.See also
* Psychological testingReferences
Further reading
*External links
*{{cite web, url=https://brightfutures.org/mentalhealth/pdf/professionals/bridges/ces_dc.pdf , title=Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children , website=Bright Futures , publisher= National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health & Georgetown University , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312005710/http://brightfutures.org/mentalhealth/pdf/professionals/bridges/ces_dc.pdf , archive-date=2016-03-12 , url-status=dead Depression screening and assessment tools