Model stability of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale across cognitive impairment and severe depression.
The 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is used in a wide variety of clinical and research settings. The study's purpose was to further establish the validity of the 15-item GDS by exploring the underlying factor structure in a healthy, nondemented sample of older adults and then analyzing whether this factor structure remained stable across a sample of demented individuals and a sample of individuals with a history of depression 6 months after discharge from an inpatient psychiatric setting. A 2-factor model fit the data best in the exploratory analyses. The 2 factors, Life Satisfaction and General Depressive Affect, found in the nondemented sample (r = .39) remained stable across cognitive impairment (r = .12) but merged into a 1-factor model in the psychiatric sample (r = .93). The results indicate that nondepressed older adults with poor life satisfaction may be identified as depressed on screening instruments such as the 15-item GDS.
Brown
Patrick J
PJ
Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. pjbrown@artsci.wustl.edu
Woods
Carol M
CM
Storandt
Martha
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic