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Factor structure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale among Chinese coal miners

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Abstract

Objective: Depression is a serious public health problem in coal miners that not only affects their physical health and quality of life but also leads to a decline in productivity and a high economic burden. The primary purpose of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. The secondary aim was to investigate the prevalence of depression among coal miners in Shanxi Province, China. Methods: Coal miners (3314, 86.60% men) were selected and evaluated with the CES-D from February 1 to April 30, 2021. The factor structure of the CES-D scale was analyzed using exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s Ω were calculated to evaluate the internal consistency of the CES-D. Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms among coal miners was 54.68%. The EFA results suggested that a three-factor structure model with 18 items was the best fit, including Depressed Affect, Interpersonal Problems, and Retarded Activity, which accounted for 54.37% of the total variance. The CFA indicated that this factor structure fit the data adequately (χ2 = 217.408, df = 87, CMIN/DF = 2.49, RMSEA = 0.055, CFI = 0.969, TLI = 0.962, IFI = 0.969). Additionally, the overall Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s Ω of the CES-D were 0.949 and 0.950, respectively. The CES-D had an excellent reliability and validity in the present sample of coal miners. Conclusion: The three-factor structure of CES-D with 18 items can best fit the data from coal miners living in Shanxi Province. The reliability and validity of the CES-D were in line with the requirements of psychometric test. The scale is suitable for screening depression among coal miners in China.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

BDI-II:

Beck Depression Inventory

CES-D:

Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression

CFA:

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

CFI:

Comparative Fit Index

DA:

Depressed Affect

df :

degrees of free

EFA:

Exploratory Factor Analysis

HAM-D:

Hamilton Depression Rating Scale

IFI:

Incremental Fit Index

IP:

Interpersonal Problems

KMO:

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin

MLEFA:

Maximum Likelihood Exploratory Factor Analysis

PHQ-9:

9-item Patient Health Questionnaire

RA:

Retarded Activity

RMSEA:

Root Mean-Square Error of Approximation

SC:

Somatic Complaints

SD:

Standard Deviation

TLI:

Tucker-Lewis Index

WHO:

World Health Organization.

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Funding

The work was supported by the Project of Philosophy and Social Science Planning of Shanxi Province [grant number: No. 2020YJ128], the project of “Construction and multi-angle evaluation of the prognostic model of respiratory distress syndrome in premature infants” [grant number: No. 2023002] and the project of “Construction and practice of mental health management model for coal miners based on employee help plan”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, 030000, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China

    Ruimin Chang, Lijun Zhang & Wenjun Cao

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine, Changzhi Medical College, 046000, Changzhi, Shanxi, China

    Wenjun Cao

  3. Department of Psychological Health Consultation, Shanxi Jinmei Group Zhaozhuang Coal Industry Corporation Ltd, 046000, Changzhi, Shanxi, China

    Benli Zhang

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  1. Ruimin Chang
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Contributions

Wenjun Cao contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Ruimin Chang, Lijun Zhang and Benli Zhang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Ruimin Chang and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wenjun Cao.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Changzhi Medical College’s ethical committees.

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Chang, R., Zhang, L., Cao, W. et al. Factor structure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale among Chinese coal miners. Curr Psychol 43, 2762–2770 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04459-7

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