The Beck Depression Inventory: Its validity in adolescent population

The Beck Depression Inventory, IA (BDI-IA) has been shown to have good psychometric properties for the past forty years. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the factor structure and provide evidence of the psychometric properties of the BDI-IA for Mexican adolescents. Three hundred eighty five adolescents in two samples (general community, psychiatric outpatients with and without major depressive disorders) completed the BDI-IA and a battery of measures of related constructs. The EFA showed a two-factor solution: the Cognitive-Affective one, and the Somatic one. The CFA indicated an acceptable fit of Beck's model. The BDI-IA showed an alpha = .92, and maintained a significant relationship with avoidance coping, ruminative response and anxiety measures. As well, the BDI-IA showed good sensitivity and specificity to discriminate between depressed and non-depressed individuals. The BDI-IA is a valid and reliable measure of depressive symptoms in Mexican adolescents of clinical and non-clinical populations.