Understanding developmental trajectories and gender differences in depressive symptoms is clinically relevant. Discerning true differences across gender, age groups, and time is based on the often-neglected premise of measurement invariance (MI) of child and adolescent depression scales. In this systematic review, we assessed available evidence for MI across gender, age groups, and time for depression scales validated in children and adolescents, in studies with at least one assessment under age 18. A literature search using Medline, PsychInfo, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases identified 42 studies that examined MI. MI of eleven scales was tested in 1–9 studies per scale. Conclusions are hampered by different factor solutions tested within some scales. All included questionnaires showed preliminary evidence for MI across gender. Across some studies, crying had higher factor loadings in females compared to males, indicating that crying may be differently related to depression across gender. MI evidence was preliminary in just four scales across time, mostly confined to ages 13–17. One study showed developmental conclusions differed when non-invariance is not accounted for in observed scores. Overall, evidence for MI in child and adolescent depression scales is currently limited.

中文翻译：

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儿童和青少年抑郁量表的性别、年龄和纵向测量不变性：系统评价


了解抑郁症状的发展轨迹和性别差异具有临床意义。辨别性别、年龄组和时间之间的真正差异是基于经常被忽视的儿童和青少年抑郁量表测量不变性（MI）的前提。在这项系统综述中，我们在至少一项 18 岁以下评估的研究中，评估了跨性别、年龄组和儿童和青少年抑郁量表验证时间的 MI 的现有证据。使用 Medline、PsychInfo、Scopus、Web 进行文献检索Science 和 Google Scholar 数据库确定了 42 项检查 MI 的研究。每个量表有 1-9 项研究对 11 个量表的 MI 进行了测试。结论受到某些规模内测试的不同因素解决方案的阻碍。所有纳入的调查问卷均显示了跨性别心肌梗死的初步证据。在一些研究中，与男性相比，女性哭泣的因素负荷更高，这表明哭泣可能与不同性别的抑郁症有不同的关系。 MI 证据仅在四个时间尺度上是初步的，主要局限于 13-17 岁。一项研究表明，当观察到的分数中不考虑非不变性时，发育结论会有所不同。总体而言，目前儿童和青少年抑郁量表中心肌梗死的证据有限。