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Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine

  • 9894 Accesses

  • 80 Citations

Synonyms

Depression

Definition

The Beck Depression Inventory is a 21-item multiple choice self-report inventory widely used measure of the presence and degree of depression in adolescents and adults.

The most recent version is the Beck Depression Inventory®-II (BDI®-II), constructed by Aaron T. Beck and colleagues (Beck, Steer, Ball, & Ranieri, 1996). The BDI®-II can be self-administered or verbally by a trained administrator, is validated for completion by 13- to 80-year-old individuals, and is available from http://www.pearsonassessments.com/HAIWEB/Cultures/en-us/Productdetail.htm?Pid=015-8018-370&Mode=summary. It has high test-retest reliability (Pearson r = 0.93) (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996). It also has high internal consistency (Alpha 0.91) (Beck, Steer, Ball, et al., 1996).

The BDI includes both cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression, unlike the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale which was developed for use with somatic illness patients, and therefore excludes somatic...

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References and Readings

  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., Ball, R., & Ranieri, W. (1996). Comparison of Beck depression inventories – IA and II in psychiatric outpatients. Journal of personality assessment, 67(3), 588–597. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6703_13. Accessed April 14, 2011, from doi:dx.doi.org.

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  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck depression inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.

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  • Canals, J., Blade, J., Carbajo, G., & Domenech-Llaberia, E. (2001). The Beck depression inventory: Psychometric characteristics and usefulness in non clinical adolescents. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 17, 63–68.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

    Dr. Jane Upton

Authors
  1. Dr. Jane Upton
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jane Upton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Medicine Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc D. Gellman

  2. Cardiovascular Safety, Quintiles, Durham, NC, USA

    J. Rick Turner

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Upton, J. (2013). Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_441

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_441

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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