Factor Structure and Longitudinal Invariance of the CES-D across Diverse Residential Backgrounds in Chinese Adolescents

Background Valid and reliable measures of depressive symptoms are crucial for understanding risk factors, outcomes, and interventions across rural and urban settings. Despite this need, the longitudinal invariance of these measures over time remains understudied. This research explores the structural components of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and examines its consistency across various living environments and temporal stability in a cohort of Chinese teenagers. Method In the initial phase, 1,042 adolescents furnished demographic details and undertook the CES-D assessment. After a three-month interval, 967 of these participants repeated the CES-D evaluation. The study employed Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to scrutinize the scale’s structural integrity. We investigated factorial invariance by conducting a two-pronged CFA: one comparing urban vs. rural backgrounds, and another contrasting the results from the initial assessment with those from the follow-up. Results The CES-D demonstrated adequate reliability in both rural and urban high school student samples. The preliminary four-factor model applied to the CES-D demonstrated a good fit with the collected data. Invariance tests, including multigroup analyses comparing rural and urban samples and longitudinal assessments, confirmed the scale’s invariance. Conclusions The results suggest that the CES-D serves as a reliable instrument for evaluating depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents. Its applicability is consistent across different living environments and remains stable over time.