The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: on using a student-based scoring program for a clinical sample

In both clinical and nonclinical samples, the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire is scored with a program that computes factor scores by using means, standard deviations, and item-loadings of a student sample. The underlying assumption of the use of this program in clinical samples is that factor scores computed on the basis of the student factor solution are similar to factor scores computed on the basis of a clinical factor solution. Consequently, both series of scores should lead up to the same conclusions when studying associations with theoretically related variables. This assumption has not been tested although the questionnaire has been used in research for almost 30 years. In the present paper an alternative scoring program was constructed, based on the factor solution of a clinical sample (N = 400) to assess whether scores of this clinical scoring program are associated in the same way with different types of depressive symptoms and interpersonal problems as the scores of the original (student-based) program. Analysis gave results inconsistent with the assumption and did not support the use of the student-based scoring program in the clinical sample. Further, results suggest that standards for assessing factorial similarity used in confirmatory factor analysis might be too lenient.