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Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC)3

Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) Test

Understand current depression risk and symptom level in about 4 minutes. Built for teens and adults, it supports quick screening and easy progress tracking over time.

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Questions: 204 minutes

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

25,167 views

4,927 completions

2,096 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

25/60

Depression (D)

Measures the severity of depressive symptoms experienced over the past week in children and adolescents.

Low symptoms

Elevated symptoms

0 – 15: Low symptoms | 16 – 60: Elevated symptoms

A score of 25 falls in the Elevated symptoms range, indicating a higher level of depressive symptoms on this screening scale.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Teens feeling low

44%OF USERS

Teenagers who have felt sad, tired, or unmotivated lately use it to quickly check whether their recent symptoms may point to depression.

Parents and caregivers

33%OF USERS

Adults worried about a child’s mood or behavior take it to get a clearer picture of how the last week has been for them and whether follow-up support is needed.

School and clinic screening

23%OF USERS

School counselors, psychologists, and clinicians use it for fast screening and to track changes in symptoms over time when time is limited.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Depression Scale (DS)

Average

36.5

Normal range

28.6 — 44.5

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

Please rate the extent to which you felt or behaved in this way during the past week.

- Not at all
- A little
- Some
- A lot
- Not at all
- Just a little
- Some
- A lot
- Not at all
- Just a little
- Somewhat
- A lot

These are 3 of the 20 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

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WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

About This Assessment

Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) Test - Symptoms and Signs

depression

This measure is a brief self-report screening tool for depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) is intended to support early identification of individuals who may benefit from further clinical evaluation.

The questionnaire asks respondents to rate how often symptoms were experienced over the past week, yielding a summary of current symptom burden. It contains 20 items and typically takes about 4 minutes to complete. Weissman, M. is cited as the author.

The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) is commonly used in school, primary care, and outpatient settings to inform triage, monitoring over time, and referral decisions; it is not a standalone diagnostic instrument.

Author: Weissman, M.

Literature: Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Psychological Corporation. 1996.; Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. Child maltreatment. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 2005.; Radloff, L. S. The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement. 1977.; Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms & profiles. University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families. 2001.