RELATIONSHIP OF CHILDREN'S DEPRESSION INVENTORY FACTOR STRUCTURE TO SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT

We analyzed associations between school achievement operationalized as grade point average (GPA) and Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) factor structure in three different factor models. The sample consisted of 587 Prague school children (276 boys and 311 girls) aged 9-11 years (average age 10.01). The results were consistent in all the models studied. Analyses were conducted separately for girls and boys. The obtained outcomes were similar for both genders. A significant correlation between GPA and total CDI score appeared. Detailed analyses revealed a factor with a markedly closer and more consistent relationship to GPA than other factors had. This factor comprised items directly linked with perception of school achievement. If the score of this factor was subtracted from the total CDI score, the correlation between the latter variable and GPA decreased, but stayed significant. Our findings suggest that the CDI contains a factor strongly related to GPA that should be controlled when studying the relationship of the total CDI score to GPA.