[The psychometric characteristics of the Depression Scale of the Centro de Estudios Epidemiológicos in adult Mexican women from rural areas].

This paper presents the results of a study aimed at describing the characteristics of the CES-D in a sample of 250 adult women, residents of rural areas in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Michoacán. Our factor analyses did not replicate the factor structure of the original scale, but adequately grouped the items according to their conceptual meaning. The CES-D was found to possess a high internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha .92) besides being strongly correlated with the measures used to assess the scales's criterion validity. Caution is recommended when using this scale with rural women, especially when interpreting the results which should incorporate not only the total scores but also the evaluation of the presence and persistence of specific symptoms in the particular sociocultural context of the studied population.