Modelling the factor structure of the Child Depression Inventory in a population of apparently healthy adolescents in Nigeria

PLOS ONE, Nov 2019

Background Childhood and adolescent depression is common and often persists into adulthood with negative implications for school performances, peer relationship and behavioural functioning. The Child Depression Inventory (CDI) has been used to assess depression among adolescents in many countries including Nigeria but it is uncertain if the theoretical structure of CDI appropriately fits the experiences of adolescents in Nigeria. This study assessed varying theoretical modelling structure of the CDI in a population of apparently healthy adolescents in Benue state, Nigeria. Methods Data was extracted on CDI scale and demographic information from a total of 1, 963 adolescents (aged 10–19 years), who participated in a state wide study assessing adolescent psychosocial functioning. In addition to descriptive statistics and reliability tests, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor analysis (CFA) were used to model the underlying factor structure and its adequacy. The suggested new model was compared with existing CDI models as well as the CDI’s original theoretical model. A model is considered better, if it has minimum Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA<0.05), Minimum value of Discrepancy (CMIN/DF<3.0) and Akaike information criteria. All analyses were performed at 95% confidence level, using the version 21 of AMOS and the R software. Results Participants were 14.7±2.1 years and mostly male (54.3%), from Monogamous homes (67.9%) and lived in urban areas (52.2%). The measure of the overall internal consistency of the 2-factor CDI was α = 0.84. The 2-factor model had the minimum RMSEA (0.044), CMIN/DF (2.87) and least AIC (1037.996) compared to the other five CDI models. Conclusion The child depression inventory has a 2-factor structure in a non-clinical general population of adolescents in Nigeria. Future use of the CDI in related setting may consider the 2-factor model.

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Modelling the factor structure of the Child Depression Inventory in a population of apparently healthy adolescents in Nigeria

March Modelling the factor structure of the Child Depression Inventory in a population of apparently healthy adolescents in Nigeria Samson Bamidele Olorunju 0 1 Onoja Matthew Akpa 0 1 Rotimi Felix Afolabi 0 1 0 Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan , Ibadan , Nigeria 1 Editor: Enzo Pasquale Scilingo, Universita degli Studi di Pisa , ITALY Childhood and adolescent depression is common and often persists into adulthood with negative implications for school performances, peer relationship and behavioural functioning. The Child Depression Inventory (CDI) has been used to assess depression among adolescents in many countries including Nigeria but it is uncertain if the theoretical structure of CDI appropriately fits the experiences of adolescents in Nigeria. This study assessed varying theoretical modelling structure of the CDI in a population of apparently healthy adolescents in Benue state, Nigeria. Background Methods Data was extracted on CDI scale and demographic information from a total of 1, 963 adolescents (aged 10±19 years), who participated in a state wide study assessing adolescent psychosocial functioning. In addition to descriptive statistics and reliability tests, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor analysis (CFA) were used to model the underlying factor structure and its adequacy. The suggested new model was compared with existing CDI models as well as the CDI's original theoretical model. A model is considered better, if it has minimum Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA<0.05), Minimum value of Discrepancy (CMIN/DF<3.0) and Akaike information criteria. All analyses were performed at 95% confidence level, using the version 21 of AMOS and the R software. Results Participants were 14.7±2.1 years and mostly male (54.3%), from Monogamous homes (67.9%) and lived in urban areas (52.2%). The measure of the overall internal consistency of the 2-factor CDI was α = 0.84. The 2-factor model had the minimum RMSEA (0.044), CMIN/DF (2.87) and least AIC (1037.996) compared to the other five CDI models. had a special access to the dataset used for the present analysis. However, we confirm that interested researchers could still reproduce the results of this study without the special privileges the authors had, and with the information that will be provided upon request. Funding: The project described in this study was supported by the Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Nigeria (MEPIN) project funded by Fogarty International Centre, the Office of AIDS Research, and the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institute of Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator under Award Number R24TW008878. OMA was awarded the grant for the study. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the views of the funding organizations. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared no competing interest to declare. Conclusion The child depression inventory has a 2-factor structure in a non-clinical general population of adolescents in Nigeria. Future use of the CDI in related setting may consider the 2-factor model. Introduction Globally, one of the major contributors to the burden of diseases is depression and it has been shown to be the leading cause of disability in terms of total years lost [ 1 ]. Depressive symptoms do not only start at a young age, often they extend to adulthood; they are more intense and difficult to manage than normal sadness feelings [1±2]. Studies assessing depression in different population settings in Nigeria have been published [3±8]. In a recent study conducted among university undergraduate students in Nigeria, prevalence of severe depression was put at 7% [ 4 ] while Amoran et al. [ 6 ] showed that depression was more common in rural (7.3%) than urban (4.2%) centres. Prior to 1960, little or close to nothing was mentioned about childhood depression in the literature but in the past five decades, existence of childhood depression is now widely recognised [9±11]. Consequently, assessment tools have been developed over the years to assess the nature of childhood depression. Some of the scales include the Centre for Epidemiological Study Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) [12], The Children's Depressive Rating Scale (CDRS) [ 13 ], the Children's Depression Scale (CDS) [ 14 ], the Reynold's Child Depression Scale (RCDS) [15] and the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) [16]. However, the CDI has been cited in the literature as one of the most viable instruments for assessing depressive symptoms both in children and young adults. The CDI, a downward extension of the BDI, consists of 27 items assessing depressive symptoms. Most of these (...truncated)


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Samson Bamidele Olorunju, Onoja Matthew Akpa, Rotimi Felix Afolabi. Modelling the factor structure of the Child Depression Inventory in a population of apparently healthy adolescents in Nigeria, PLOS ONE, 2018, Volume 13, Issue 3, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193699