Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977) is a 20-item self-report questionnaire that is used to assess the number of depressive symptoms an individual may have experienced in the past week. Some example questions from the CES-D include “I was bothered by things that usually don't bother me” and “My sleep was restless.” Participants were asked to rate each item on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (less than 1 day) to 3 (5–7 days). Total scores were calculated by reversing items 4, 8, 12, and 16 and then adding all 20 items together. Total scores range from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating the experience of more severe depressive symptoms (Radloff, 1977). A score of 16 or higher indicates the experience of a clinical depressive disorder (Radloff, 1977). The CES-D was originally developed and tested on a sample of 4,000 individuals within the general population and in psychiatric settings (Radloff, 1977). The original assessments of the CES-D showed good discriminant validity between general population and psychiatric inpatient samples. Researchers have also established excellent concurrent validity (Brantley, Mehan, & Thomas, 2000), criterion validity (Harringsma, Engels, Beckham, & Spinhoven, 2004), and construct validity (Cheung & Bagley, 1998). Validity studies have shown that the CES-D is not a specific diagnostic tool for depression, but a measure of the severity of depressive symptoms (Fechner-Bates, Coyne, and Schwenk 1994). Studies of the CES-D in both community and psychiatric samples have demonstrated significant correlations with other measures of depression, such as the Beck Depression Inventory (Santor, Zuro...... middle of paper ...... World Health Organization (1992). International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10), Geneva, Switzerland: Author. World Health Organization (2009). http://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/definition/en/print.html.Ziegert, D.I., & Kistner, J.A. (2002). Response styles theory: Downward extension to children Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 325-334 doi:10.1207/S15374424JCCP3103_04Zimmerman, F.J., & Katon, W. (2005). What lies behind the income depression relationship? . doi: 10.1002/hectare.1011