Depressive symptoms as measured by the CDI in a population of northern Italian children

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate some Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) psychometric properties and the prevalence of depressive symptoms in an unselected Italian sample of two hundred and eighty-four children aged 8 years. The CDI internal consistency was adequate (Cronbach's alpha:.80). The mean and standard deviation of CDI and the percentage of children at risk of depression (10.6%) in this sample are consistent with the figures reported by other studies carried out in northern Europe and North America. There were differences in gender and socioeconomic level in that boys scored higher than girls, and in the lower socioeconomic level there were more children at risk of depression. Ten items best discriminated children at risk for depression with 94% of correct classification. Most of these items consisted of observable signs. It is suggested that the CDI has noteworthy consistency across samples of relatively different cultures, that it can reliably be employed in the assessment of young children, and that observable signs outnumber internalizing symptoms of depression among children at risk

Prevalence of depressive symptoms in Turkish adolescents

“…The ratio of depression in the study is harmonious with the other studies (3,13,19). Toros et al (15) had found that depression prevalence in adolescents was higher in a coastal city in southern Turkey.…”

“…Poverty was effective on depressive symptoms in children (Table 2). Poverty and dif- (5,13,24,37,38) showed that low economic status increases depression. It can be concluded that low economic status leads to depression via deprivation.…”

“…Adolescents' depression has also been associated with family environment such as parental death and divorce (10,11). It has been also related to socioeconomic level and school performance (12,13).…”

Screening for children’s depression symptoms in Greece: the use of the Children’s Depression Inventory in a nation-wide school-based sample

“…The prevalence of depressive risk in the present sample was 4.2%, when the cutoff point of 19 suggested by Kovacs [30] was taken as threshold. This figure is much lower than those reported in other studies which concluded to prevalence rates around 10% using the same cutoff point of CDI score [17,28,36,43]. When the cutoff point of 13 was taken as threshold, the prevalence rate was somewhat higher (14.96%) than the prevalence figures of self-reported depressive morbidity obtained from studies in general population, but still much lower than those obtained from studies using the cutoff point of 13 of the CDI [17,43].…”

“…This figure is much lower than those reported in other studies which concluded to prevalence rates around 10% using the same cutoff point of CDI score [17,28,36,43]. When the cutoff point of 13 was taken as threshold, the prevalence rate was somewhat higher (14.96%) than the prevalence figures of self-reported depressive morbidity obtained from studies in general population, but still much lower than those obtained from studies using the cutoff point of 13 of the CDI [17,43]. Since previous studies [10,24,27,48] indicate that CDI can be better used as a continuous measure of depressive symptoms [10] rather than as an accurate discriminatory (through cutoff scores) instrument for depression, further research using CDI along with other validated diagnostic measures for psychopathology in both clinical and nonclinical Greek populations (questionnaires and/or structured interviews) is needed.…”