On the validity of the Beck depression inventory: a review

The present review discusses validity aspects of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) on the basis of meta-analyses of studies on the psychometric properties. Shortcomings of the BDI are its high item difficulty, lack of representative norms, and thus doubtful objectivity of interpretation, controver...

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Main Authors: Richter, Paul (Author) , Werner, Joachim (Author) , Heerlein Lobenstein, Andrés (Author) , Kraus, Alfred (Author) , Sauer, Heinrich (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: [1998]
In: Psychopathology
Year: 1998, Volume: 31, Issue: 3, Pages: 160-168
ISSN:1423-033X
DOI:10.1159/000066239
Online Access:Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1159/000066239
Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/66239
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Author Notes:Paul Richter, Joachim Werner, Andrés Heerlein, Alfred Kraus, Heinrich Sauer
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Summary:The present review discusses validity aspects of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) on the basis of meta-analyses of studies on the psychometric properties. Shortcomings of the BDI are its high item difficulty, lack of representative norms, and thus doubtful objectivity of interpretation, controversial factorial validity, instability of scores over short time intervals (over the course of 1 day), and poor discriminant validity against anxiety. Advantages of the inventory are its high internal consistency, high content validity, validity in differentiating between depressed and nondepressed subjects, sensitivity to change, and international propagation. The present paper outlines agreements and contradictions between the various studies on the BDI and discusses the potential factors (composition of the subject sample, statistical procedures, point in time of measurement) accounting for the variance in their results.
Item Description:Gesehen am 29.01.2021
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1423-033X
DOI:10.1159/000066239