Depressive symptoms among adolescents in Lebanon

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Lebanese-Arabic translation of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) in preadolescents, early and late adolescents in Lebanon. The CES-DC is a 20 item self-report scale developed to measure depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. A total of 650 pupils ranging in age from 10–18 years, participated in this investigation. Participants were also asked to complete two questionnaires the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The CES-DC Lebanese- Arabic version for this study demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach Alpha=0.90). It was found that the four-factor structure model suggested by Radloff can be replicated in Lebanon. The CES-DC total scores correlated significantly with the SCAS total scores and the SDQ emotional symptoms subscale, providing support for its convergent validity. To conclude, the CES-DC proved to be a reliable and valid measure of depressive symptoms in the Lebanese context. Scores of depressive symptoms differed significantly by age, gender and were higher than scores of adolescents in other countries.