Factors Influencing the

SINCE the initial publications on the development and validation of the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS),1,2 there has been continued interest in it. Diversity in the application of this tool is evidenced by its use in the programs of suicide prevention centers, alcoholism clinics, child guidance and adult psychiatric clinics, health and welfare agencies, and by various research groups, including the Veterans Administration Cooperative Studies in Psychiatry and the Early Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit of the Psychopharmacology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health. In a series of studies exploring social structure and mental illness, Redlich et al3-6 reported highly significant relationships between social class position and aspects of psychiatric disorders, such as prevalence of psychiatric patients, types of psychiatric disorders, and choice of treatment modalities. If these relationships exist as such, is there a significant correlation between social status and results of psychological and psychiatric tests, scales, and inventories? In view of the large number and wide usage of such tests and rating scales, it was decided that this hypothesis should be investigated. The present study undertakes to test if the various factors which determine the patient's social status and constitute the usual demographic data obtained could have any effect upon the validity of the SDS. Method