title: The similarity of the structure of DSM-IV criteria for major depression in depressed women from China, the United States and Europe.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Do DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for major depression (MD) in Chinese and Western women perform in a similar manner?
  
  
  METHODS
  The CONVERGE study included interview-based assessments of women of Han Chinese descent with treated recurrent MD. Using Mplus software, we investigated the overall degree of between-sample measurement invariance (MI) for DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for MD in the CONVERGE sample and samples selected from four major Western studies from the USA and Europe matched to the inclusion criteria of CONVERGE. These analyses were performed one pair at a time. We then compared the results from CONVERGE paired with Western samples to those obtained when examining levels of MI between pairs of the Western samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Assuming a single factor model for the nine diagnostic criteria for MD, the level of MI based on global fit indexes observed between the CONVERGE and the four Western samples was very similar to that seen between the Western samples. Comparable results were obtained when using a two-factor structure for MI testing when applied to the 14 diagnostic criteria for MD disaggregated for weight, appetite, sleep, and psychomotor changes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite differences in language, ethnicity and culture, DSM criteria for MD perform similarly in Chinese women with recurrent MD and comparable subjects from the USA and Europe. The DSM criteria for MD may assess depressive symptoms that are relatively insensitive to cultural and ethnic differences. These results support efforts to compare findings from depressed patients in China and Western countries.
authors.affiliation: Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University,Richmond,VA,USA.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kendler
authors.affiliation: Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University,Richmond,VA,USA.
authors.forename: S H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Aggen
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics,Oxford,UK.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: MRC SGDP Centre,Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London,London,UK.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: MRC SGDP Centre,Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London,London,UK.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Breen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Psychology and EMGO Institute of Health and Care Research,VU University,Amsterdam,The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D I
authors.initials: DI
authors.lastname: Boomsma
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute of Health and Care Research,VU University Medical Center,Amsterdam,The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bot
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and EMGO Institute of Health and Care Research,VU University Medical Center,Amsterdam,The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B W J H
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Penninx
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics,Oxford,UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flint
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D065246:Culturally Competent Care; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014481:United States
keywords: China; DSM-IV; cross-cultural psychiatry; major depression; measurement invariance