cesd-20 – TILDA Resources

Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale: 20 Item (CESD-20)

Description: The frequency and severity with which symptoms of depression are experienced in the general population.

Number of Items: 20

Item	Question Wording	TILDA Variable
1	I was bothered by things that usually don't bother me.	mh001
2	I did not feel like eating; my appetite was poor.	mh002
3	I felt that I could not shake off the blues even with help from my family or friends.	mh003
4	I felt that I was just as good as other people.	mh004
5	I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing.	mh005
6	I felt depressed.	mh006
7	I felt that everything I did was an effort.	mh007
8	I felt hopeful about the future.	mh008
9	I thought my life had been a failure.	mh009
10	I felt fearful.	mh010
11	My sleep was restless.	mh011
12	I was happy.	mh012
13	I talked less than usual.	mh013
14	I felt lonely.	mh014
15	People were unfriendly.	mh015
16	I enjoyed life.	mh016
17	I had crying spells.	mh017
18	I felt sad.	mh018
19	I felt that people disliked me.	mh019
20	I could not get "going".	mh020

Scoring Method:

4-point Likert scale
- 0 = Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)
- 1 = Some or a little of the time (1-2 days)
- 2 = Occasionally or a moderate amount of time (3-4 days)
- 3 = All of the time (5-7 days)
A cumulative score is generated with higher scores representing greater levels of depression (range 0-60).
Items 4, 8, 12 and 16 are negatively worded and reverse scored prior to calculation.
Scores between 8-15 represent moderate clinically significant depressive symptoms.
Scores ≥ 16 represent severe clinically significant depressive symptoms.

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. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306 (Original Scale)

Example TILDA Papers:

Briggs, R., Kenny, R.A. and Kennelly, S.P. (2017). Does baseline hypotension predict incident depression in a cohort of community-dwelling older people? Data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Age and Ageing, 46(4): 648–653. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afx033
Ward, M., Turner, N., Briggs, R., O'Halloran, A.M. and Kenny, R.A. (2020). Resilience does not mediate the association between adverse childhood experiences and later life depression. Findings from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Journal of Affective Disorders, 277: 901–907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.089

Code

gen cesd = 0 if in_capi == 1
foreach posq in mh001 mh002 mh003 mh005 mh006 mh007 mh009 mh010 mh011 mh013 mh014 mh015 mh017 mh018 mh019 mh020{
replace cesd = cesd + (`posq'-1)
replace cesd = . if `posq'==98 | `posq' ==99
}
foreach negq in mh004 mh008 mh012 mh016 {
replace cesd = cesd + (4-`negq')
replace cesd = . if `negq'==98 | `negq' ==99
}
gen cesd_capi = cesd
label variable cesd_capi "CES-D From CAPI"
rename cesd_capi MHcesd_capi
drop cesd

recode MHcesd_capi (0/7=0) (8/15=1) (16/100=2), gen(MHdep3)
label variable MHdep3 "Depressive symptoms"
label define MHdep3 0 "None/mild" 1 "Moderate" 2 "Severe"
label values MHdep3 MHdep3
notes MHdep3 : Recoded CESD from CAPI
notes MHdep3 : Code to generate - recode MHcesd_capi (0/7=0) (8/15=1) (16/70=2), gen(MHdep3)

Download Stata .do file

pos_items <- c(
  "mh001","mh002","mh003","mh005","mh006","mh007","mh009","mh010",
  "mh011","mh013","mh014","mh015","mh017","mh018","mh019","mh020"
)
neg_items <- c("mh004","mh008","mh012","mh016")

data$cesd <- NA_real_
data$cesd[!is.na(data$in_capi) & data$in_capi == 1] <- 0

for (v in pos_items) {
  data$cesd <- data$cesd + (data[[v]] - 1)
  data$cesd[data[[v]] %in% c(98, 99)] <- NA_real_
}

for (v in neg_items) {
  data$cesd <- data$cesd + (4 - data[[v]])
  data$cesd[data[[v]] %in% c(98, 99)] <- NA_real_
}

data$MHcesd_capi <- data$cesd
attr(data$MHcesd_capi, "label") <- "CES-D From CAPI"
data$cesd <- NULL

data$MHdep3 <- NA_real_
data$MHdep3[!is.na(data$MHcesd_capi) &
            data$MHcesd_capi >= 0 & data$MHcesd_capi <= 7] <- 0
data$MHdep3[!is.na(data$MHcesd_capi) &
            data$MHcesd_capi >= 8 & data$MHcesd_capi <= 15] <- 1
data$MHdep3[!is.na(data$MHcesd_capi) &
            data$MHcesd_capi >= 16 & data$MHcesd_capi <= 100] <- 2

attr(data$MHdep3, "label") <- "Depressive symptoms"
attr(data$MHdep3, "labels") <- c("None/mild" = 0, "Moderate" = 1, "Severe" = 2)
attr(data$MHdep3, "note") <- paste(
  "Recoded CESD from CAPI.",
  "Code to generate: 0-7=0, 8-15=1, 16-70=2 (source note);",
  "the executable Stata recode uses 16-100=2."
)

Download R file

COMPUTE cesd = $SYSMIS.
IF (in_capi = 1) cesd = 0.

COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh001 - 1).
IF (mh001 = 98 OR mh001 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh002 - 1).
IF (mh002 = 98 OR mh002 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh003 - 1).
IF (mh003 = 98 OR mh003 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh005 - 1).
IF (mh005 = 98 OR mh005 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh006 - 1).
IF (mh006 = 98 OR mh006 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh007 - 1).
IF (mh007 = 98 OR mh007 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh009 - 1).
IF (mh009 = 98 OR mh009 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh010 - 1).
IF (mh010 = 98 OR mh010 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh011 - 1).
IF (mh011 = 98 OR mh011 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh013 - 1).
IF (mh013 = 98 OR mh013 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh014 - 1).
IF (mh014 = 98 OR mh014 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh015 - 1).
IF (mh015 = 98 OR mh015 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh017 - 1).
IF (mh017 = 98 OR mh017 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh018 - 1).
IF (mh018 = 98 OR mh018 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh019 - 1).
IF (mh019 = 98 OR mh019 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (mh020 - 1).
IF (mh020 = 98 OR mh020 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.

COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (4 - mh004).
IF (mh004 = 98 OR mh004 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (4 - mh008).
IF (mh008 = 98 OR mh008 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (4 - mh012).
IF (mh012 = 98 OR mh012 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.
COMPUTE cesd = cesd + (4 - mh016).
IF (mh016 = 98 OR mh016 = 99) cesd = $SYSMIS.

COMPUTE MHcesd_capi = cesd.
VARIABLE LABELS MHcesd_capi "CES-D From CAPI".
DELETE VARIABLES cesd.

RECODE MHcesd_capi
  (0 THRU 7 = 0)
  (8 THRU 15 = 1)
  (16 THRU 100 = 2)
  (ELSE = SYSMIS)
  INTO MHdep3.

VARIABLE LABELS MHdep3 "Depressive symptoms".
VALUE LABELS MHdep3
  0 "None/mild"
  1 "Moderate"
  2 "Severe".

* Notes from Stata:
* Recoded CESD from CAPI.
* The executable Stata recode uses 16-100=2; a source note says 16-70=2.

EXECUTE.

Download SPSS .sps file