[Measurement invariance of the German version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D 20) among males and females with and without a history of migration].

Objective: The measurement invariance of the German version of the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D 20) among men and women with and without migration background has not been studied yet.

Methods: A total of 2786 employed persons without (female n = 1772, male n = 598) and with an immigrant background (female n = 301, male n = 115) were included in the study. The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to test for the strong factorial invariance and to estimate latent mean differences.

Results: The factorial structure is invariat 1) across the female sub-sample, full scalar invariance is achieved, 2) compared to male non-migrants and female sub-sample, partial scalar invariance is achieved. 3) The male migrants show a different, three-factor structure with a mix-factor of depressive affect/somatic complaints. 4) Female migrants have significantly higher latent mean values in subscales.

Conclusion: The measurement invariance of the German CES-D 20 is given to that extent that meaningful comparisons in correlative coefficient and latent mean values can be made.