Factor Analysis of Children's Depression Inventory: In a Population of General Children in a Small City in Korea

Park, Jong Ik

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) is one of the most widely used self-report instruments for the assessment of childhood depression, and it has been especially valid for epidemiological purposes. The aim of this study is to assess self-reported depressive symptoms in 5th grade students in a small city by gender, using the Korean version of the CDI. In addition, factorial analysis was performed on the 27 items of the CDI in the subjects in order to identify potential composite dimensions.
METHODS
The participants were 2,293 5th grade students from elementary schools (1,148 males and 1,145 females). The initial factors were extracted by maximum likelihood factor analysis and then rotated according to promax criteria in order to achieve a simple structure. Only those items with a loading of .30 or greater were included in the identified factors.
RESULTS
The mean CDI score was 13.95+/-7.11. A total of 557 (24.3%) children showed clinically significant scores of more than 19 points. There was no significant difference in mean score between the boys and girls. Factorial analysis yielded four factors: dysphoria/biological dysregulation, externalizing/self-deprecation, social problems and school problems. The factor that accounted for the highest variability was externalizing/self-depreciation in boys and dysphoria/biological dysregulation in girls.
CONCLUSION
The cut-off score on the CDI in children should be considered to be higher than that in previous studies. The factorial structure for 11-year-old children in Korea seems to be similar to that of adolescents in Western countries.