A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that scores from a self-anchored scale for depression function as unidimensional indicators of depression and that scores from a self-anchored scale for self-esteem function as unidimensional indicators of self-esteem. A total of 228 responses were obtained from a purposive sample of clinical and nonclinical respondents. The research hypothesis implied a measurement model that was tested using structural equation modeling methods. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that scores from the self-anchored scale for depression serve as indicators of the construct depression but not with the scores from the self-anchored scale for self-esteem functioning as indicators of the construct self-esteem. The results suggested that self-anchored scales may be used to measure depression but not self-esteem. A number of practice applications of these results are discussed, including the possible use of multi-item self-anchored scales.
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