Preliminary psychometric data for a Portuguese scale to assess history of depressive symptomatology with a college student sample

Abstract

We developed a Portuguese questionnaire that could assess history of depressive symptoms. The Depressive History Questionnaire was based on the Depressive Experience Subscale from the Thalbourne Manic-Depressiveness Scale, which was translated into Portuguese. The Depressive History Questionnaire was administered to 459 college students. Female students scored significantly higher than male students. Cronbach alpha was .64 and was considered satisfactory. Principal component analysis revealed that the questionnaire measures only one dimension. Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the fit of the one-factor model The Depressive History Questionnaire correlates positively and significantly with the Portuguese versions of both the Beck Depression Inventory - II and of the Depressive Personality Disorder Inventory. (Campos et al., 2009 - rcampos@uevora.pt)