The Beck depression inventory: Uses and applications

Abstract The Beck depression inventory (BDI) is among the most used self-rating scales for measuring depression worldwide. Since the test construction in 1961, the BDI has been employed in more than 14,000 empirical studies. This chapter discusses the utility of the BDI based on previous studies on its psychometric properties. We only consider those studies that are primarily concerned with the validity of the psychometric properties. The advantages of the BDI are its good internal consistency, sensitivity to change, broad construct validity, flexible criterion validity in differentiating between depressed and nondepressed subjects, and international propagation. The main limitations of the tool are the lack of representative norms, doubtful objectivity of interpretation, and controversial factorial validity. Agreements and contradictions between the various studies, as well as potential factors (sampling issues, statistical procedures, sensitivity to change) accounting for the variance in their results, are discussed.