CES-D Depression Scale Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)
- Some or a little of the time (1-2 days)
- Occasionally or a moderate amount of the time (3-4 days)
- Most or all of the time (5-7 days)
- Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)
- Some or a little of the time (1-2 days)
- Occasionally or a moderate amount of the time (3-4 days)
- Most or all of the time (5-7 days)
- Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)
- Some or a little of the time (1-2 days)
- Occasionally or a moderate amount of the time (3-4 days)
- Most or all of the time (5-7 days)
CES-D Depression Scale Test - Description and methodology of the test
Some weeks feel heavy for no clear reason, and it is hard to tell a passing slump from something deeper. The CES-D depression scale gives that feeling a number. If you have ever typed am I depressed quiz into a search bar late at night, this is a sharper answer: one overall level, plus the parts of your week that pushed it up.
What the scale measures
The CES-D questionnaire was created by Lenore Radloff at the US National Institute of Mental Health to measure depressive symptoms in the general population. It has twenty statements about the past week, and each one asks how often something happened, from less than one day to five days or more. Your answers add up to one total, the depression level, which opens your result and is shown from 0 to 100. Behind it sit four parts: low mood, such as sadness, loneliness and crying; fading joy, when happiness, hope and enjoyment of life go quiet; body and energy, which covers sleep, appetite, focus and the effort everything takes; and feeling unwelcome, the sense that people are unfriendly or dislike you.
How to take it and read your level
Think about the past seven days only and pick the frequency that fits each statement best. Four statements describe the opposite, such as feeling hopeful or enjoying life, and they are scored in reverse, so a good week lowers your total. The CES-D scoring is simple: each answer adds from zero to three points, and the sum runs from zero to sixty before it is shown on a 0 to 100 scale. After the last answer you see:
- your depression level from 0 to 100 with a plain label;
- separate levels for low mood, fading joy, body and energy, and feeling unwelcome;
- the answers that pushed each part up the most;
- a comparison with people from your country.
The lower third of the range means few signs of depression, the middle third means noticeable signs, and the top third means many. Many people retake the test after a few weeks to see whether their level has moved.
- Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), 385-401.
- Carleton, R. N., Thibodeau, M. A., Teale, M. J. N., Welch, P. G., Abrams, M. P., Robinson, T., & Asmundson, G. J. G. (2013). The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale: A review with a theoretical and empirical examination of item content and factor structure. PLOS ONE, 8(3), e58067.
- Vilagut, G., Forero, C. G., Barbaglia, G., & Alonso, J. (2016). Screening for depression in the general population with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D): A systematic review with meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 11(5), e0155431.
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