Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)

Below is a list of some of the ways you may have felt or behaved. Please indicate how often you have felt this way during the past week by checking the appropriate box for each question.

  Rarely or none of the time
(less than 1 day)		 Some or a little of the time
(1-2 days)		 Occasionally or a moderate amount of time
(3-4 days)		 All of the time
(5-7 days)
1.   I was bothered by things that usually don't bother me

Items (using the same format as above):

  1. I was bothered by things that usually don't bother me
  2. I did not feel like eating; my appetite was poor
  3. I felt that I could not shake off the blues even with help from my family
  4. I felt that I was just as good as other people
  5. I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing
  6. I felt depressed
  7. I felt that everything I did was an effort
  8. I felt hopeful about the future
  9. I thought my life had been a failure
  10. I felt fearful
  11. My sleep was restless
  12. I was happy
  13. I talked less than usual
  14. I felt lonely
  15. People were unfriendly
  16. I enjoyed life
  17. I had crying spells
  18. I felt sad
  19. I felt that people disliked me
  20. I could not "get going"

Scoring

Item Weights Rarely or none of the time
(less than 1 day)		 Some of a little of the time
(1-2 days)		 Occasionally or a moderate amount of the time
(3-4 days)		 All of the time
(5-7 days)
Items 4, 8, 12, & 16
3
2
1
0
All other items:
0
1
2
3

Score is the sum of the 20 item weights. If more than 4 items are missing, do not score the scale. A score of 16 or greater is considered depressed.


Characteristics

Tested on 175 subjects.

No. of
items
Observed
Range

Mean
Standard
Deviation
Internal Consistency
Reliability
Test-Retest
Reliability
20
0-53
16.2
10.9
.91
NA

Source of Psychometric Data

Stanford Arthritis Self-Management Study, 1996. Unpublished.

Comments

We are no longer using the CES-D in multiethnic studies because we have found that the norms for various ethnic groups differ. This scale is available in Spanish.

References

Radloff LS, The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 1977, pp.385-401.

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