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Factor Structure of the Children’s Depression Inventory: Evidences from Asian Children and Adolescents

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Abstract

The main goal of this study was to investigate the factorial validity of the CDI utilizing both exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for children and adolescents in Taiwan. In this study, the CDI was applied to 633 children (aged 9–12; 52 % male; 48 % female) and 774 adolescents (aged 13–15; 52.5 % male; 47.5 % female). The samples were randomly split into two subsamples. Sample 1 (313 children: 53.7 % boys and 46.3 % girls; 384 adolescents: 53.4 % boys and 46.6 % girls) was applied to principal axis analysis with promax oblique rotation. Additionally, the parallel analysis technique was used to determine the appropriate number of factors for extraction. In CFA, sample 2 (320 children: 50.3 % boys and 49.7 % girls; 390 adolescents: 51.5 % boys and 48.5 % girls) was applied to evaluate the fit indices for the established models which were derived from EFA as well as the previous studies. Results showed that the three-factor models demonstrated good fit indices for both child and adolescent samples. Also, one single second-order factor was found in both child and adolescent samples, suggesting that scoring mechanism of the CDI was justified. Finally, the similarities and differences on the factor structure of the CDI between children and adolescents were discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling, National PingTung University of Education, No. 4-18 Ming Shen Road, PingTung, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Ching-Hsiung Tsai & Pei-Chen Wu

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  1. Ching-Hsiung Tsai
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Correspondence to Pei-Chen Wu.

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Tsai, CH., Wu, PC. Factor Structure of the Children’s Depression Inventory: Evidences from Asian Children and Adolescents. Child Ind Res 6, 559–577 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-013-9184-8

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