The Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms in Pre-adolescent School Children in Iceland

Abstract

The Icelandic translation of the Children Depression Inventory (CDI) was administered to 436 children attending fifth through ninth grade of primary school (228 girls and 208 boys). The cohort was composed of three equally big groups, from the fifth to sixth grade, seventh grade and eight to ninth grade. The CDI total scores were somewhat lower than in most Anglo-Saxon studies. A cut-off score of 15 identified the upper 10% of the children as depressed. An analysis of variance yielded a significant difference due to grade, but no sex difference, and no interaction between grade and sex. The reliability of the inventory was satisfactory. The factor structure found by Kovacs (1992) was not replicated. It is proposed that total scores should be used rather than scores on specific factors for the Icelandic translation.