Depression Symptom Checklist (CES-D)

What it measures

Twenty items assess the frequency of depressive symptoms over the past week, including depressed mood, somatic symptoms, positive affect (reverse-scored), and interpersonal difficulties. The formal name is the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.

Response format

4-point frequency (0=rarely or none of the time, 3=most or all of the time)

Scale items

• I was bothered by things that usually don't bother me.
• I did not feel like eating; my appetite was poor.
• I felt that I could not shake off the blues even with help from my family or friends.
• I felt that I was just as good as other people. (r)
• I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing.
• I felt depressed.
• I felt that everything I did was an effort.
• I felt hopeful about the future. (r)
• I thought my life had been a failure.
• I felt fearful.
• My sleep was restless.
• I was happy. (r)
• I talked less than usual.
• I felt lonely.
• People were unfriendly.
• I enjoyed life. (r)
• I had crying spells.
• I felt sad.
• I felt that people disliked me.
• I could not get "going."

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Developed for the National Institute of Mental Health by Radloff (1977); widely considered a gold-standard community screening instrument for depressive symptoms. Alphas .81 (Keller et al. 2002) and .75 (Keller et al. 2003) in marketing samples — the lower alpha may reflect range restriction in non-clinical populations. Items 4, 8, 12, and 16 are reverse-scored (positive affect items). Standard scoring sums all 20 items (0–60); scores ≥16 conventionally indicate elevated symptoms.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), 385–401.

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