AGE-DIFFERENCES AMONG JAPANESE ON THE CENTER FOR EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES DEPRESSION SCALE - AN ETHNOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE ON SOMATIZATION

The Japanese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depressio n Scale (CES-D) was subjected to principal component (PC) analysis wit h oblique rotation, as well as an examination of internal consistency, using data obtained from 2,016 adult employees aged 19-63 years. Anal yses focused on age differences in these psychometric properties of th e CES-D. Coefficient-alpha was sufficiently high for all age groups bu t was lower than reported in U.S. studies. Positive affect items lower ed internal consistency. The PC analyses extracted four factors for ea ch age group. Depressive affect items did not group into one factor; s ome were combined with somatic or interpersonal items, and the remaind er constituted the smallest factor. These three main factors, 'somatic + depressed', 'interpersonal + negative' and 'positive affect' were c omparable across age groups except for those aged 50-63 years. For tho se aged 50-63 years, the first two factors were combined into a large 'general dysphoria' factor, suggesting a more unified conceptualizatio n of depressive mood. Although 'positive affect' was stable cross-cult urally, it was not related to depressive symptomatology as measured by the other items, for Japanese. The 'interpersonal + negative' appears unique for Japanese, indicating the association of interpersonal rela tions with depressive mood in Japanese. The effects of age-specific et hnocultural factors in Japan on depressive symptomatology are discusse d. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd