STRUCTURE OF A DEPRESSION MEASURE AMONG AMERICAN-INDIAN ELDERS - CONFIRMATORY FACTOR-ANALYSIS OF THE CES-D SCALE

This research examines differences in depressive symptomology among ur ban, rural off-reservation, and reservation-residing American Indians, age 55 years or older, of the eastern Great Lakes region. It analyzes the measurement structure of one commonly used depression scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and tests alterna tive models far the full sample (N = 277) as well as the three residen tial strata. Findings show that a 12-item version developed by Liang e t al, for use with Mexican Americans provided a superior fit over the original 20-item version. The shortened scale included items more conc eptually valid for this American Indian population, Furthermore, tests of invariance revealed that only the 12-item version had similar fact or structures and factor loadings across the three residential strata.