Measuring Adolescent Depression: Factorial Validity and Invariance of the Beck Depression Inventory Across Gender

1993/04/01 by Barbara M. Byrne, Pierre Baron, T. Leanne Campbell · 3 citations
Psychology · #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics

paper · doi:10.1207/s15327795jra0302_2

openalex publication_date 1993/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

Extending the earlier work of Byrne and Baron (in press), the factorial invariance of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was tested across nonclinical adolescent males (n = 351) and females (n = 334) using confirmatory factor-analytic procedures. Despite the differential loading pattern of Item 20 for females, a three-factor structure that comprised one second-order general factor of depression and three first-order factors representing negative attitude, performance difficulty, and somatic elements was found to be invariant across gender. Furthermore, except for two additional items (8 and 10), the remaining BDI measurements were group invariant. Results are expected to be of substantial interest to both researchers and clinicians whose concerns focus on depression as it bears on this population.

Citations

• Practical Issues in Structural Modeling
• A Reliability Coefficient for Maximum Likelihood Factor Analysis
• Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation

Cited by

• Factor Analytic Models: Viewing the Structure of an Assessment Instrument From Three Perspectives
• The Beck Depression Inventory-II: Testing for Measurement Equivalence and Factor Mean Differences Across Hong Kong and American Adolescents
• Barbara M. Byrne [wikipedia]