Psychiatry International · Published 2026-08-04 · DOI 10.3390/psychiatryint7040171
Cirilo H. García-Cadena, Oscar Manuel Lara-Pinales, Ana Karen Gutiérrez-Martínez, Francisco Javier Barreto Trujillo, Iván V. Martínez Alanís
Most instruments used to assess depression have been developed in sociocultural contexts that differ substantially from those of Spanish-speaking Latin American populations. To address this limitation, the present study developed and evaluated a new brief measure of depressive symptomatology for use in northeastern Mexico. The study included 414 participants (<i>M</i>age = 27.37 years, <i>SD</i> = 13.72). An initial pool of 23 items, grounded in interbehavioral psychology, was developed and subsequently evaluated by a panel of 58 expert judges. Based on content-validity analyses, the instrument was reduced to 15 items. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported a final four-item, one-factor solution. The final model demonstrated adequate fit to the data (<i>χ</i><sup>2</sup>/<i>df</i> = 0.281, AGFI = 0.993, NNFI = 1.015, CFI = 1.000, RMSEA = 0.000, 90% CI [0.000, 0.094], and SRMR = 0.008). Evidence of discriminant and convergent validity was supported by a negative correlation with the Subjective Happiness Scale (<i>r</i> = −0.294, <i>p</i> < 0.01) and a positive correlation with the seven-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CESD-7; <i>r</i> = 0.273, <i>p</i> < 0.01). Construct reliability was satisfactory (<i>H</i> = 0.841). Overall, the findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the proposed instrument as a brief screening measure of depressive symptomatology in a Mexican sample, mostly from Nuevo León.
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García-Cadena, C., Lara-Pinales, O., Gutiérrez-Martínez, A., et al. (2026). Development and Preliminary Validation of a Brief Depression Scale in a Mexican Sample. Psychiatry International. https://doi.org/10.3390/psychiatryint7040171