ABSTRACT
The CESD was developed at the Center for Epidemiologic Studies, a division of the National Institute of Mental Health, in 1971 (Radloff, 1977). The CESD is a self-report scale that is an amalgamation of previously devised depressive inventories, including Zung's depression scale (Zung, 1965), the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961), and a scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The CESD includes 20 items that survey mood, somatic complaints, interactions with others, and motor functioning. The response values are 4-point Likert scales, with range 0-3 and anchor points in terms of days per week: "Rarely or none of the time (less than one day)" to "Most or all of the time (5-7 days)." The final score ranges from 0 to 60, with a higher score indicating greater impairment. People with a final score of 16 or higher are typically identified as a depressive "case." This generally represents someone that has reported at least 6 items to be frequently present over the course of the previous week or most of the 20 items to be present for a shorter duration.
