Popular depression screening tool may actually measure happiness, not illness
A widely used 8-item depression scale fails to distinguish depression from general well-being, according to new research from Sweden. The finding challenges how clinicians and researchers identify depression, potentially affecting diagnosis accuracy and treatment decisions across healthcare systems worldwide.
Originaltitel: Beyond Depression: Does the CES-D 8 Capture Subjective Well-Being?
This study examines whether the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D 8) measures depression as distinct from the subjective well-being (SWB) components emotional well-being (EWB) and life satisfaction (LS). Using data from the Swedish European Social Survey CRONOS-2 panel (N= 795), we employed confirmatory factor analysis for testing discriminant validity and examined health, sociodemographic, and psychological correlates. Results showed strong correlations (r>.70) between the latent depression factor (CES-D 8) and both latent EWB and LS factors. The depression factor furthermore failed the Fornell–Larcker tests for discriminant validity against LS and EWB, and health measures showed similar associations with CES-D 8, EWB, and LS. Limited support is thus obtained for depression being a distinct construct. CES-D 8 may primarily capture EWB rather than depression, prompting reconsideration of how depression is conceptualized and measured in relation to SWB in both research and clinical practice.