Bmc Psychiatry
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In Western European countries, the prevalence of depressive symptoms is higher among ethnic minority groups, compared to the host population. We explored whether these inequalities reflect variance in the way depressive symptoms are measured, by investigating whether items of the PHQ-9 measure the same underlying construct in six ethnic groups in the Netherlands. ⋯ This study provides evidence of measurement invariance of the PHQ-9 regarding ethnicity, implying that the observed inequalities in depressive symptoms cannot be attributed to DIF.