Psychometric Restudy of a Brief Depression Measure for Justice Involved Youth

• In Event: Measurement Challenges and Innovations

Abstract

A major mental health concern among justice involved youth is their level of
depression, often related to other mental health and behavior problems. We evaluate the psychometric properties of the eight-item CES-D depression instrument using a sample of newly arrested youth. Analysis addressed three research questions. (1) Do the CES-D eight items reflect a common factor, or latent variable? (2) Does a similar factor structure for the CES-D items exist among subgroups of youths based on birth sex and race? (3) Is there evidence supporting the construct validity of the depression factor? CFA found evidence in support of a single-factor model for the measure. Multigroup invariance analysis addressed sex -race group differences in factor structure (configural, metric, and scalar invariance). Metric invariance was found among males and females; scalar invariance was found among nonBlack and Black youth. Findings support the psychometric soundness of the eight-item CES-D measure for use among the diverse youths involved in this study. Additional covariate analysis found significant relationships between depression and a measure of Adverse Childhood Experiences in three of four regression analyses. Younger aged youth had higher rates of depression than older aged youth.

Authors

• Jennifer Wareham, Wayne State University

• Richard Dembo, University of South Florida

• James Schmeidler, Mt. Sinai Medical School

• Alexis Swezey, ACTS, Inc.

• Rachel Silva, ACTS, Inc.

• Luz Melendez, ACTS, Inc.

• Camille Geiger, ACTS, Inc.

• Kerry Bittrich, ACTS, Inc.