Objectives:
Depressive disorders, which remain one of the most common and recurrent mood disorders worldwide, presently affect up to 15% of the population under age 25. Adolescent depression is related to a number of adverse phenomena such as scholastic/academic failure, juvenile delinquency, illicit substance abuse or suicide. Studies show that students are at a high risk of developing this disorder but depression in this population is often misdiagnosed and undertreated. Consequently, it is important to develop reliable diagnostic tools to evaluate symptoms of depression in students. Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (brief version) is a commonly used screening test used to identify young people at risk for depression, which consists of six items related to its main symptoms. The aim of the study was to adapt and test reliability and content validity of the Polish version of six – item Kutcher’s KADS based on analysis of students using confirmatory factor analysis.

Methods:
A total of 1,589 student aged 18–24 anonymously answered a questionnaire on the risk of depression (KADS) and a demographics survey.

Results:
Confirmatory factor analysis showed the good fit of model to empirical data: SB χ² (15) = 968.688, p < .001, RMSEA = .053, CFI = .958, SRMR = .029. Factor loading ranged from .40 to .80.

Conclusions:
Validation of Polish version of KADS in a group of students aged 18-24 years has shown its high reliability and content validity. Further studies should be focused on the assessment of the questionnaire criterion validity.