MEASURE NAME: Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition

Acronym: BDI-II

Basic Description
Author(s): Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., & Brown, G.
Author Contact: Aaron T. Beck
Psychopathology Research Unit
3535 Market Street, Room 2032
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Fax: (215) 573-3717
Contact first author via e-mail.
Author Email: abeck@mail.med.upenn.edu
Citation: Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., & Brown, G.K. (1996). Manual for the
Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological
Corporation.
To Obtain: Harcourt Assessment, Inc.
19500 Bulverde Road
San Antonio, Texas 78259
Phone: 1-800-211-8378
Fax: 1-800-232-1223
E-mail: customer_service@harcourt.com
Website: www.harcourtassessment.com
Cost per copy (in US $): $1.50
Copyright: Yes
Description: The BDI-II is a widely used 21-item self-report inventory
measuring the severity of depression in adolescents and adults.
The BDI-II was revised in 1996 to be more consistent with DSM-
IV criteria for depression. For example, individuals are asked to
respond to each question based on a two-week time period
rather than the one-week timeframe on the BDI.

The BDI-II is widely used as an indicator of the severity of

depression, but not as a diagnostic tool, and numerous studies
provide evidence for its reliability and validity across different
populations and cultural groups. It has also been used in
numerous treatment outcome studies and in numerous studies
with trauma-exposed individuals.
Theoretical Orientation The items on the BDI-II were developed to assess an individual's
Summary: depressive symptoms based on the criteria found in the DSM-IV
for depressive disorders.
Domains Assessed:
1. Depression (cgiver)
2. Depression (child)
3.
4.
5.
6.
Languages Available: Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, English, Farsi, Finnish, French,
German, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish,
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 Swedish, Turkish

Age Range: 13.0 - 80.0 Measure Type: General assessment

# of Items: 21 Measure Format: Questionnaire
Time to Complete (min): 10 Reporter: Self
Time to Score (min): 2 Education Level: 0.00
Periodicity: Unknown
Response Format: Rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from 0 to 3, based
on severity of each item.

Materials Needed: Yes Paper and pencil No Testing stimuli

(check all that apply) No Computer No Physiological equipment
No Video equipment No Other
Material Notes: Items can be read aloud if necessary.

Standardized scoring forms must be ordered through the

Psychological Corporation. Spanish Record Forms are also
available. Computerized scoring is also available.

Materials (as of 6/05) available include:

1. BDI-II manual: $40

2. Record Forms (pkg/100): $150 (Pricing is based on purchase

of this package.)

3. Spanish Record Forms (pkg/100): $150

4. Scannable Record Forms (pkg/100): $150

Sample Items:
Domains Scale Sample Items
Depression not available

Notes (additional scales and domains):

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Information Provided: (check all that apply)
Diagnostic information DSM-III Yes Standard Scores
Yes Diagnostic information DSM-IV Percentile
Strengths Graph (e.g., of elevated scale)
Yes Areas of concerns/risks Dichotomous assessment
Program evaluation information Clinical friendly output
Yes Continuous assessment Written feedback
Yes Raw Scores Other

Training
Training to Administer: None Must be a psychologist
(check all that apply) Yes Via manual/video Training by experienced
clinician (<4 hours)
Prior experience psych Training by experienced
testing & interpretation clinician (≥4 hours)
Training to Interpret: None Must be a psychologist
(check all that apply) Yes Via manual/video Training by experienced
clinician (<4 hours)
Yes Prior experience psych Training by experienced
testing & interpretation clinician (≥4 hours)
Training Notes: Can be administered by paraprofessionals. Only mental health
professionals with appropriate clinical training and experience
should interpret the scores.

Parallel or Alternate Forms

Parallel Forms? No
Alternate Forms: No
Forms for Different Ages: Yes
If so, are forms comparable:
Any Altered Versions of Measure: Yes
Describe: The BDI-II is based on the amended Beck Depression
Inventory (BDI-A). Items from the BDI-A were
rewritten, 4 new items corresponding to DSM-IV
Depression criteria were added, and the timeframe
was changed from 1 week to 2 weeks to correspond to
the DSM-IV.

There is a short version of the BDI, the BDI-SF, which

includes only the cognitive-affective subscale and has
been recommended to assess depression in medical
populations, with scores higher than 10 associated with
moderate to severe depression. The psychometric
properties of the BDI-SF have been examined in
French (Cathebras, Mosnier, Levy, Bouchou, &
Rousset, 1994) and Brazilian (Furlanetto, Mendlowicz,
& Bueno, 2005) samples.

The Beck Depression Inventory for Youth is for use

with children aged 7-14 and has demonstrated good
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 convergent validity with the Children’s Depression
Inventory (Simith, Schwartz, George, & Panke, 2004).

Population Used to Develop Measure

The authors revised the BDI to be more consistent with the criteria for depression found in
the DSM-IV. The BDI-II was piloted on 193 psychiatric outpatients diagnosed with various
disorders by a psychologist or psychiatrist using the DSM-III or DSM-IV.

Psychometrics
Global Rating (scale based on Hudall Stamm, 1996):
Considered a gold standard
Norms: Yes
For separate age groups: No
For clinical populations: No
Separate for men and women: No
For other demographic groups: No
Notes: The normative sample included outpatients from various clinics and
hospitals located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky who were
used as part of the measure development for the BDI-II. This population
consisted of 317 females and 183 males; 91% Caucasian, 4% African
American, 4% Asian American, and 1% Latino. The mean age was 37.20
(SD=15.91).
Clinical Cutoffs: Yes
Specify Cutoffs: Raw scores of 0 to 13 indicates minimal depression, 14 to 19
indicates mild depression, 20 to 28 indicates moderate
depression, and 29 to 63 indicates severe depression.
Used in Major Studies: Yes
Specify Studies:

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Reliability:
Type: Rating Statistics Min Max Avg
Test-Retest-# days: 7 Acceptable Correlation 0.93
Internal Consistency: Acceptable Coefficient alpha 0.92
Inter-Rater: NA
Parallel/Alternate Forms: Unknown
Notes:
From Beck, Steer, & Brown (1996):

Psychometrics were studied with a group with the following demographics:

The BDI-II was given as part of a standard intake psychological battery. Five hundred
outpatients from various clinics and hospitals located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and
Kentucky were included. This population consisted of 317 females and 183 males; 91%
Caucasian, 4% African American, 4% Asian American, and 1% Latino. The mean age
was 37.20 (SD=15.91). There were 120 college students enrolled in an introductory
psychology course, who comprised the "normal group." This population consisted of 67
females and 53 males with a mean age of 19.58 (SD=1.84) and was predominately
Caucasian.

Additional data regarding reliability are presented under Notes for "Construct Validity."
The test-retest and internal consistency data have been replicated in numerous studies,
including adults and adolescents, with similar findings.

Content Validity:
The items on the BDI-II were developed to assess an individual's depressive symptoms
based on DSM-IV criteria for depressive disorders.

Osman, Kopper, Guttierez, Barrios, & Bagge (2004) studied the content validity of the BDI-II
by having 10 “experts” rate the relevance and specificity of items for DSM-IV Major
Depressive Disorders. Thirteen adolescents aged 13-17 rated the degree to which items
were understandable, easy to read, and would correspond to what they would say to a
mental health professional about how they feel.

Items receiving low Relevance ratings included item 3 (Past Failure), item 6 (Punishment
Feelings), and item 21 (Loss of Interest in Sex). Items receiving low Specificity ratings
included item 11 (Agitation), item 19 (Concentration Difficulty), and item 21 (Loss of Interest
in Sex).

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Construct Validity: (check all that apply)
Validity Type Not known Not found Nonclinical Clinical Diverse
Samples Samples Samples
Convergent/Concurrent Yes Yes Yes
Discriminant Yes Yes
Sensitive to Change Yes Yes
Intervention Effects Yes Yes
Longitudinal/Maturation Effects Yes
Sensitive to Theoretically Yes Yes Yes
Distinct Groups
Factorial Validity Yes Yes Yes
Notes: Given the large number of published studies using the BDI, we focused our
efforts on the core psychometric studies and those conducted with adolescents
and trauma-exposed populations.

1. Numerous studies have established the reliability and validity of the BDI-II in
different populations and cultures. In adults, the BDI-II has been found to
correlate with multiple measures of depression including the Center for
Epidemiological Studies of Depression Scale (CES-D), Zung Self-Rating
Depression Scale, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and the Revised Hamilton
Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996).

2. The BDI-II discriminates depressed from non-depressed patients (Beck,

Steer, & Brown, 1996; Sprinkle et al., 1992).

3. It has also been found to be sensitive to change with treatment, including in

randomized trials with individuals who have experienced a trauma (Bryant,
Moulds, Guthrie & Nixon, 2005) and those diagnosed PTSD (Ehlers et al., 2005).

4. Factor analysis of the BDI-II has generally identified a 2-factor structure in

adult outpatient and non-clinical samples, measuring cognitive-affective and
somatic depressive symptoms (Dozois, Dobson, & Ahnberg, 1998; Storch,
Roberti, & Roth, 2004). Analyses with adult inpatients have identified a single
hierarchical depression factor (Cole, Grossman, Prillman, & Hunsaker, 2003).
Analyses of adolescents have identified different but related factor solutions (see
below).

One study involving a confirmatory factor analysis of the CES-D and the original
BDI, failed to validate a single-factor model (Skorikov & Vandervoort, 2003).
The authors suggested that the measures assess different underlying aspects of
the construct of depression, with the CES-D assessing more of an affective
component and the BDI assessing more of a cognitive component. The authors
suggested that the measures not be used interchangeably since they may be
assessing different aspects of depression. They also interpreted their findings
as suggesting that the CES-D may be more effective in non-clinical populations.

5. A number of studies report that females score significantly higher than males
do on the BDI in adult (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) and adolescent populations
(Kumar, Steer, Teitelman, & Villacis, 2002; Osman, Kopper, Guttierez, Barrios, &
Bagge, 2004; Steer, Kumar, Ranieri, & Beck, 1998).

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6. BDI-II scores do not appear to be related to ethnicity in adult (Beck et al.,
1996) or adolescent samples (Kumar et al., 2002; Steer et al., 1998).

STUDIES WITH ADOLESCENTS

1. Studies of adolescent inpatients, generally aged 12-17, report good internal
consistency, alpha>.90 for the total scale and >.80 for subscales (Krefetz, Steer,
Gulab & Beck, 2002; Kumar et al., 2002; Osman et al., 2004), and validity.

2. BDI-II scores are correlated with scores on the Reynolds Adolescent

Depression Scale, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, the Beck Anxiety Inventory,
the MMPI-A, and the Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire-Revised; and BDI-II
scores discriminate between adolescents who do and do not meet DSM-IV
criteria for a major depressive disorder (Krefetz et al., 2002; Kumar et al., 2002).

3. Confirmatory factor analyses with adolescent psychiatric inpatients (Osman

et al., 2004) identified a 2-factor solution as the most parsimonious and
interpretable. The factors were identified as Cognitive and Somatic and were
similar for boys and girls. The authors report that the solution differed from that
reported for adults in that the first factor contained both cognitive and affective
symptoms.

4. Steer et al. (1998) examined the psychometrics of the BDI-II with adolescent
outpatients and found good internal consistency. Through principal factor
analysis, they identified a single second-order dimension of self-reported
depression and three first-order factors. The authors claimed that only two of the
first-order factors, Cognitive and Somatic-Affective, were generalizable. These
two factors have been identified using the BDI-II with adult outpatients. They
found no differences between Caucasians and non-Caucasians but did report
significant correlations between age and BDI-II scores.

STUDIES WITH TRAUMA-EXPOSED INDIVIDUALS

The BDI has been used in numerous studies with trauma-exposed individuals. A
PsychInfo search of “Beck Depression Inventory” or “BDI” AND “trauma” yielded
681 peer-reviewed journal articles (6/05). It has been used in samples of
combat veterans, women who have experienced intimate partner violence and
sexual abuse, and in numerous treatment outcome studies for PTSD.

1. The BDI has also been found to be sensitive to intervention effects in and
randomized trials with individuals with diagnosed PTSD (e.g., Bryant, Moulds,
Guthrie, & Nixon, 2005; Ehlers et al., 2005; Kubany et al., 2004). Individuals
treated with interpersonal psychotherapy adapted for PTSD also show
decreases in BDI-II scores following treatment (Bleiberg & Markowitz, 2005).
Parents of children with PTSD symptoms related to sexual abuse and traumatic
bereavement show decreases in BDI symptoms after participating in treatment
with their children (Cohen, Deblinger, Mannarino & Steer, 2004; Cohen,
Mannarino, & Knudsen, 2004).

2. Among women who have experienced intimate partner violence, those with
comorbid PTSD and Major Depression show higher levels of symptomatology on
the BDI-II than those with PTSD alone and those with no PTSD or Major
Depression (Nixon, Resick, Nishith, 2004).

3. The BDI has also been used with individuals with vicarious traumatization
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with scores on a Secondary Trauma Scale related to higher levels of depression
(Motta, Newman, Lombardo, & Silverman, 2004).

STUDIES WITH OTHER CULTURAL GROUPS AND DIVERSE POPULATIONS

(This is a sampling of the literature in this area. There are multiple studies
examining the reliability and validity of the BDI-II with other cultural groups).

1. Leigh & Tolbert (2001) examined the reliability of the BDI-II with deaf college
students and found good internal consistency (alpha=.88), split-half reliability
(.76), and one-week test-retest reliability (.77).

2. Grothe, K.B., Dutton, G.R., Jones, GN., Bodenlos, J., Ancona, M., & Brantley,
P.J. (2005) factor analyzed data from a low-income African American outpatient
sample. Consistent with previous research conducted by Beck, they identified 2
first-order factors (somatic and cognitive) and one second-order factor
(depression). They also found high internal consistency (alpha=.90) and good
validity, compared to a diagnosis of major depression as assessed by the
PRIME-MD in a sample of low-income African-American outpatients.

3. Contreras, S., Fernanedez, Senaida, Malcarne, V.L., Ingram, R.E., &

Vaccarino, V.R. (2004) examined the reliability and validity of the BAI and BDI in
a sample of 1,110 Latino and 2,703 Caucasian undergraduate students. Scales
for both groups had good internal consistencies. They also found similar factor
structures for both groups, providing evidence of factoral validity. Although they
used the original BDI in this study, they suggested that results would generalize
to the BDI-II given the overlap between the two.

4. Cardemil, Kim, Pinedo, & Miller (2005) found high internal consistence
(alpha was .90-.92) and change in scores over the course of treatment for both
English- and Spanish-speaking Latina women from a predominantly low-income
sample.

5. Penley, Wiebe, & Nwosu (2003) examined the psychometrics of the Spanish
translation of the BDI II in a sample of predominantly Hispanic adults undergoing
medical treatment for hemodialysis, many of whom were of lower SES. They
found good internal consistency (alpha=.92), and using confirmatory factor
analysis, identified two first-order depression factors and one second-order
general depression factor, similar to what has been reported in other samples.

They reported that BDI-II scores were negatively correlated to SES and
acculturation and positively correlated with disease severity. Bilingual
participants completed both English and Spanish versions, with comparable
scores across language administrations. However, 30% of bilingual participants
would be placed in a different depressive category depending on whether their
Spanish or English scores are used. These findings are especially important in
light of a study using an earlier version of the BDI that reported item bias when
Latinos completed a translated version of the BDI (Azocar, Areán, Miranda &
Muñoz, 2001).

6. Carmody (2005) examined the psychometrics of the BDI-II with a diverse

group of college students. He found similar psychometrics for the non-clinical
sample, but results of his confirmatory factor analysis suggested that a 3-factor
model, comprised of negative attitude, performance difficulty, and somatic
dimensions, provided a better fit than the traditional 2-factor model.
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 7. Sanz, Perdigón, & Vásquez (2003) examined the psychometrics of the
Spanish adaptation of the BDI-II with 470 non-clinical adults. They found good
internal consistency and factoral validity, with factor analysis identifying a
general dimension of depression and two related factors, cognitive-affective and
somatic-motivational, similar to the factor structure reported in the BDI-II
manual. The study also provides BDI-II community norms.

8. The BDI has also been found to be related to the Adolescent Dissociative
Experiences Survey and to a measure of alexithymia in a sample of Turkish
adolescents (Sayar, Kose, Grabe, & Murat, 2005).

9. Byrne, Stewart, & Lee (2004) examined the psychometrics of the Chinese
Beck Depression Inventory-II with a sample of Hong Kong community
adolescents. They conducted both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis
and found a 2nd order general factor of Depression and three first-order factors:
Negative Attitude, Performance Difficulty, and Somatic Elements. Their findings
replicate what has been found in Canadian, Swedish, and Bulgarian non-clinical
adolescents, but are different from factor analyses conducted with inpatient and
outpatient adolescents in the United States. They also reported good internal
consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity.

10. The psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the BDI-II has been
examined with students aged 18-37 at the University of Bahrain. The authors
suggest findings provide support for the BDI-II in this population (Al-Musawi,
2001).

Criterion Validity: (check all that apply)

Measures used as criterion: Measures include: Beck Hopelessness Scale, Center for Epidemiological
Studies of Depression, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Hamilton
rating Scale for Depression, Hamilton Rating scale for Anxiety.
Not known Not found Nonclinical Clinical Diverse
Samples Samples Samples
Predictive Validity: Yes
Postdictive Validity: Yes

Sensitivity Rate(s): 0.81

Specificity Rate(s): 0.92
Positive Predictive Power: 0.85
Negative Predictive Power: 0.83
Notes: 1. Dozois, Dobson, & Ahnberg (1998) indicated sensitivity and specificity rates
listed above using cutoffs of 0-12 (nondepressed), 13-19 (dysphoric), and 20-
63 (dysphoric or depressed).

2. Kumar, Steer, Teitelman, & Villacis (2001) examined adolescents who had
cutoff scores of 21 and above. They found a sensitivity of .85 and specificity of
.83, as well as the positive and negative predictive power listed above.

3. Sprinkle et al. (2002) analyzed data from a sample of university students

and reported that a cutoff score of 16 for mild depression would yield a
sensitivity rate of 71% and a false positive rate of 21%.

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Limitations of Psychometrics and Other Comments Regarding Psychometrics:
1. Interpretation is based on raw scores only.
2. Norms were based on a predominantly Caucasian sample.
3. The majority of studies conducted with adolescents have been predominantly Caucasian
and have not included large numbers of individuals of lower socio-economic status.

Consumer Satisfaction
No known data on this topic.

Languages Other than English

Language: Translation Quality (check all that apply)
1= Has been translated
2= Has been translated and back translated - translation appears good and valid.
3= Measure has been found to be reliable with this language group.
4= Psychometric properties overall appear to be good for this language group.
5= Factor structure is similar for this language group as it is for the development group.
6 = Norms are available for this language group.
7= Measure was developed for this language group.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1. Spanish Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2. Arabic Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
3. Japanese Yes Yes Yes
4. Norwegian Yes Yes
5. Chinese Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
6. German Yes Yes
7. Turkish Yes Yes Yes Yes
8. Farsi Yes
9. Swedish Yes
10. Japanese Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Use with Trauma Populations

Populations for which measure has demonstrated evidence of reliability and validity:
Physical abuse Natural disaster Yes Terrorism
Yes Sexual abuse Yes Accidents Immigration related trauma
Neglect Imprisonment Kidnapping/hostage
Yes Domestic Violence Witness death Yes Traumatic loss (death)
Community violence Yes Assault Yes Other
Yes Medical trauma Yes War/combat

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Use with Diverse Populations
USE WITH DIVERSE POPULATIONS RATING SCALE
1. Measure is known (personal communication, conference presentation) to have been used with members of this group.
2=Studies in peer-reviewed journals have included members of this group who have completed the measure.
3=Measures have been found to be reliable with this group.
4=Psychometric properties well established with this group.
5=Norms are available for this group (or norms include a significant proportion of individuals from this group)
6=Measure was developed specifically for this group.

Population Type: Degree of Usage: (check all that apply)

1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Developmental disability Yes Yes Yes
2. Disabilities Yes Yes Yes
3. Lower socio-economic status Yes YesYes Yes
4. Rural populations
5. Deaf/hearing impaired Yes Yes Yes
6. African-Americans Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notes (including other diverse populations):
The BDI-II has been used with so many different populations that they are too numerous
to mention.

7. Victims of the 9/11 attacks who either witnessed the attacks, lost loved ones, or were
involved in rescue/cleanup/body recovery at the WTC: 1
8. Trauma survivors with PTSD (bodily harm, common assault, sexual assault, or rape): 1
9. Adolescents: 1, 2, 3, 4
10. Substance abuse: 2
11. HIV: 2
12. Other medical illnesses (e.g., breast cancer): 2
13. Older adults: 1, 2

Pros and Cons/Qualitative Impression

Pros:
1. The BDI-II is widely used and accepted as a measure of depressive symptomatology.

2. The BDI-II can be administered orally by an examiner to those with reading difficulties
or problems with concentration.

3. The BDI-II is user-friendly; it is easy to administer and score.

4. It has been translated into languages other than English, and its psychometric
properties have been established in numerous cultural groups including the deaf
population.

5. The BDI-II is designed to assess state-related depression and could be used as a quick
weekly screener prior to therapy sessions.

6. The measure has been found to be useful in detecting change in treatment-outcome

studies.
Cons:
1. Due to the face validity of the BDI-II, underreporting and overreporting may be likely.

2. Individuals with low education and some Spanish speakers have difficulty with the
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response format.

3. The procedure used to determine the cut scores may increase the likelihood of false
positives or overdiagnoses of depression among clients.

4. The wording in some items asks the respondent to compare their current state to a
prior one (e.g., than usual, as ever). Individuals with chronic trauma since childhood
sometimes respond by circling a zero because they do not feel worse than "usual."

5. The normative sample is predominantly White (91%).

6. Although the measure can be used for adolescents, the norms were gathered with
adults.

7. The majority of psychometric studies conducted with adolescents in the United States
have involved predominantly Caucasian samples and have not included large numbers of
individuals of lower socio-economic status. More research is needed on the use of the
BDI-II with diverse groups of adolescents.

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References (Representative sampling of publications, presentations, psychometric references)
Published References:
The reference for the manual is:
Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., & Brown, G.K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II.
San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.

A PsychInfo search (6/05) for "Beck Depression Inventory" or “BAI” anywhere revealed that
the BDI has been referenced in 9,013 peer-reviewed journal articles. The BDI-II has been
referenced in 586 publications in peer-reviewed journal articles. Below is a sampling of
some of these articles:

1. Al-Musawi, N.M. (2001). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II

with university students in Bahrain. Journal of Personality Assessment, 77, 568-580.
2. Azocar, F., Areán, P., Miranda, J., & Muñoz, R.F. (2001). Differential item functioning in
a Spanish translation of the Beck Depression Inventory. Journal of Clinical Psychology,
57(3), 355-365.
3. Bleiberg, K.L., & Markowitz, J.C. (2005). A pilot study of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(1), 181-183.
4. Bryant, R.A., Moulds, M.L., Guthrie, R.M., & Nixon, R.D.V. (2005). The additive benefit
of hypnosis and cognitive-behavioral therapy in treating acute stress disorder. Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73(2), 334-340.
5. Byrne, B.M., Stewart, S.M., & Lee, P.W.H. (2004). Validating the Beck Depression
Inventory-II for Hong Kong community adolescents. International Journal of Testing, 4(3),
199-216.
6. Cardemil, E.V., Kim, S., Pinedo, T.M., & Miller, I.W. (2005). Developing a culturally
appropriate depression prevention program: The Family Coping Skills Program. Cultural
Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 11(2), 99-112.
7. Carmody, D.P. (2005). Psychometric characteristics of the Beck Depression Inventory II
with college students of diverse ethnicity. International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical
Practice, 9(1), 22-28.
8. Cathebras, P., Mosnier, C., Levy, M., Bouchou, K., & Rousset, H. (1994). Screening for
depression in patients with medical hospitalization. Comparison of two self-evaluation
scales and clinical assessment with a structured questionnaire. Encephale, 20, 311-317.
9. Cohen, J.A., Deblinger, A., Mannarino, A.P., & Steer, R.A. (2004). A multisite,
randomized controlled trial for children with sexual abuse-related PTSD symptoms. Journal
of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(4), 393-402.
10. Cohen, J.A., Mannarino, A.P., & Knudsen, K. (2004). Treating childhood traumatic
grief: A pilot study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,
43(10), 1225-1233.
11. Cole, J.C., Grossman, I., Prillman, C., & Hunsaker, E. (2003). Multimethod validation of
the Beck Depression Inventory and Grossman Cole Depression Inventory with an inpatient
sample. Psychological Reports, 93(3), 1115-1129.
12. Contreras, S., Fernanedez, Senaida, Malcarne, V.L., Ingram, R.E., & Vaccarino, V.R.
(2004). Reliability and validity of the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories in Caucasian
Americans and Latinos. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 26(4), 446-
462.
13. Dozois, D.J.A., Dobson, K.S., & Ahnberg, M.J.L. (1998). A psychometric evaluation of
the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Psychological Assessment, 10, 83-89.
14. Ehlers, A., Clark, D., Hackmann, A., McManus, F., & Fennel, M. (2005). Cognitive
therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 43(4), 413-
431.
15. Eidhin, M.N., Sheehy, N., O’Sullivan, M., & McLeavey, B. (2002). Perceptions of the
environment, suicidal ideation and problem-solving deficits in an offender population. Legal
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and Criminological Psychology, 7, 187-201.
16. Furlanetto, L.M., Mendlowicz, M.V., & Bueno, J.R. (2005). The validity of the Beck
Depression Inventory-Short Form as a screening and diagnostic instrument for moderate
and severe depression in medical inpatients. Journal of Affective Disorders, 86(1), 87-
91.
17. Grothe, K.B., Dutton, G.R., Jones, G.N., Bodenlos, J., Ancona, M., & Brantley, P.J.
(2005). Validation of the BDI-II in a low-income African American sample of medical
outpatients. Psychological Assessment, 17(1), 110-114.
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Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition
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Unpublished References:
A PsychInfo search (6/05) anywhere revealed that the Beck Depression Inventory has been
referenced in 748 doctoral dissertations and 384 conference presentations. The BDI-II has
been referenced in 146 dissertations and 47 conference presentations.
Number of Published References: 586
(based on author provided information and a PsychInfo search, not including dissertations)

Number of Unpublished References: 193

(based on a PsychInfo search of unpublished doctoral dissertations)

Author Comments:
The author provided comments, which were incorporated.

Citation for Review: Chandra Ghosh Ippen, Ph.D., Connie Wong, M.A.
Editor of Review: Chandra Ghosh Ippen, Ph.D., Robyn Igelman, M.A., Nicole Taylor,
Ph.D., Madhur Kulkarni, M.S.
Last Updated: 6/8/2005
PDF Available: yes

This project was funded by the

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA),
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The views, policies and opinions
expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of SAMHSA or HHS.

Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition

NCTSN Measure Review Database
15
www.NCTSN.org