Depression Scale for Children And Adolescents

CES-DC: Center for Epidemiological Studies
Depression Scale for Children And Adolescents

Note: This is just a screening tool. It is not a substitute for professional assessment. Regardless of a child or adolescent’s score on this screen, we urge you to see your doctor or a mental health professional if you have any concerns. It may be helpful to print out this scale and take it with you. If a child or adolescent does not score as depressed on this scale but is showing worrisome symptoms of depression, we recommend that you consult a professional.

Instructions: Below is a list of the ways you might have felt or acted. Please check how much you have felt this way during the past week.

		NOT AT ALL	A LITTLE	SOME	A LOT
1.	I was bothered by things that usually don’t bother me.
2.	I did not feel like eating, I wasn’t very hungry.
3.	I wasn’t able to feel happy, even when my family or friends tried to help me feel better.
4.	I felt like I was just as good as other kids.
5.	I felt like I couldn’t pay attention to what I was doing.
6.	I felt down and unhappy.
7.	I felt like I was too tired to do things.
8.	I felt like something good was going to happen.
9.	I felt like things I did before didn’t work out right.
10.	I felt scared.
11.	I didn’t sleep as well as I usually sleep.
12.	I was happy.
13.	I was more quiet than usual.
14.	I felt lonely, like I didn’t have any friends.
15.	I felt like kids I know were not friendly or that they didn’t want to be with me.
16.	I had a good time
17.	I felt like crying.
18.	I felt sad.
19.	I felt people didn’t like me.
20.	It was hard to get started doing things.

Scoring the scale:

Each answer is scored as follows:

0 = “Not At All”
1 = “A Little”
2 = “Some”
3 = “A Lot”

However, items 4, 8, 12 and 16 are scored in the opposite order:

3 = “Not At All”
2 = “A Little”
1 = “Some”
0 = “A Lot”

Weissman et al. (1980), the developers of the CES-DC, use scores of 15 and higher as suggesting depression in children and adolescents. However, sometimes people who fill out this scale under-report how bad they are feeling. If you have concerns, it is important to consult a professional even if a child or adolescent’s score is below 15.