Critical study of reliability and validity of the Beck Depression Inventory

Abstract

Two groups of persons completed the Self-Rating Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). One was a sample of 250 presumably normal people, classified according to age, sex, and marital status; the other was a sample of 61 outpatients and hospitalized patients that included chronic alcoholics as well as patients suffering from somatic and psychological depression. BDI split-half correlations were .87 and .93. Item analysis showed only 2 BDI items not homogeneous at .001 level in the depressed sample and only one in the normal sample. Significant BDI correlations were obtained for global ratings of the total patient sample, for the subgroups, and between the BDI and the Self-Rating Depression Scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)