The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: construct validity and prediction of depressive symptoms in a sample of Chinese undergraduates

✍ Scribed by Shuqiao Yao; Jianqun Fang; Xiongzhao Zhu; David C. Zuroff

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 108 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1091-4269
• DOI: 10.1002/da.20465

✦ Synopsis

Background:

The depressive experiences questionnaire (deq) was developed to measure two dimensions of depression-prone personality, dependency and self-criticism. we investigated the construct validity and prediction of deq in a chinese sample, and explored whether blatt's conceptualizations of depression-prone personality variables are appropriate for the chinese context.

Methods:

The original version of the deq was translated into chinese (deq-c). during the initial assessment, 640 chinese university students completed the deq-c and the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale (ces-d). six months later, the ces-d was re-administered.

Results:

A principal components analysis yielded a three-factor model that was consistent with blatt's theory. however, these three factors emerged in a different order in comparison to the original sample. factorial validity was also acceptable with low correlations between each deq-c factor in males (r=.01 approximately -0.14), and females (r=0.19 approximately 0.28). convergent validity was supported by significant positive correlations between the ces-d and both dependency and self-criticism. predictive validity was demonstrated by hierarchical multiple regression analyses showing that self-criticism predicted increased depressive symptoms both in males (beta=0.27, p<0.01) and in females (beta=0.16, p<0.05); dependency predicted levels of depressive symptoms only in females (beta=0.11, p<0.05).

Conclusions:

The chinese version of the deq demonstrated satisfactory validity, including construct validity and predictive validity, the deq-c can be considered as an appropriate tool for assessing personality vulnerability to depression in chinese college students.