Examining the measurement invariance of a modified CES-D for American Indian and non-Hispanic White adolescents and young adults.

Existing measures of depression may not perform adequately for American Indian (AI) people, including adolescents and young adults. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) is utilizing modified long- and short-form versions of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale in study waves, scales that had not been examined for measurement invariance (MI) with AI adolescents or young adults. To help fill this knowledge gap, in this study we analyzed secondary restricted data from Add Health in assessing the cross-cultural MI of the 19-item CES-D-based scale employed in Add Health Wave 1 and the 10-item, short-form version administered in Wave 4 between AI and non-Hispanic White adolescents and young adults. We also tested the longitudinal MI of the 10-item CES-D-based scale between adolescence (Wave 1) and young adulthood (Wave 4) within each racial group. Results illustrated that the 19-item scale exhibited cross-cultural MI in Wave 1 for 1-, 2-, and 3-factor solutions. A 4-factor solution, which had the best overall fit for both groups, was partially cross-culturally invariant. The 10-item scale showed cross-cultural MI for a 2-factor solution at both waves, with 1-factor solutions exhibiting partial MI. However, within-group longitudinal MI with the 10-item scale was not supported for any tested solution for either AI or non-Hispanic White respondents. These findings support the cross-cultural MI of Add Health CES-D-based items for AI and non-Hispanic White adolescents and young adults, while highlighting the importance of examining latent construct MI over time between adolescence and young adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record