how do adolescents define depression? - cIRcle - University of ...

Chapter III: Methodology
for Anger Dysregulated Expression, .68 for Anger Regulation Coping, and .79 for Anger
Inhibition.
Depression: Symptomatology, Conceptions, Self-Recognition, Thinking About Own Need to Talk
Depressive Symptomatology
to Someone, and Talking to Someone when Feeling Depressed
Depressive symptomatology was assessed via the 2 nd Edition Reynolds Adolescent
Depression Scale (RADS-2) (Reynolds, 2002), a 30-item screening instrument designed to
evaluate depressive symptoms in adolescents ages 11 to 20 years. The RADS-2 does not provide
a formal diagnosis of depression; rather, it facilitates the screening of self-reported depression in
adolescents by producing an empirically derived cutoff score, indicating clinical severity of
depression by assessing the frequency of occurrence of item-specific symptoms, and yielding a
depression total scale score. The RADS-2 was developed for school-based, clinical, and research
populations; takes about five to ten minutes to complete; and has a second/third grade reading
level (Reynolds, 2002).
Adolescents respond to the items that best describe their CURRENT (up to 2 weeks)
symptom status. Responses are rated on a 4-point, Likert-type scale (1 = "almost never," 2 =
"hardly ever," 3 = "sometimes," or 4 = "most of the time"). The Depression Total raw score
can range from 30 to 120, in which higher scores indicate greater levels of depressive
symptomatology. The cutoff score provides a metric identification of adolescents likely to
manifest clinical levels of depressive symptoms. A Depression Total raw score between 30 and
75 is viewed within a normal range of symptom endorsement. A Depression Total raw score of
76 and above represents mild to severe clinical level of depression. Following the
recommendations of Reynolds (2002), the sum was created totaling the 30 items on a 4-point
scale. If a participant left one or more of the RADS-2 items blank, but had to respond to at least
80% of the full 30-item scale with a maximum of six items missing information on the RADS-2,
Depression Total score was obtained by prorating the scores (full details can be obtained from
Psychological Assessment Resources [PAR]; Reynolds, 2002). Prorating an incomplete total
score for the RADS-2 was achieved by multiplying the obtained sum of the Depression score by
30 and dividing that total by the number of items completed (Reynolds, 2002).
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