TRANSLATION INTO SPANISH AND RELIABILITY OF THE BIRLESSON SCALE (DSRS) FOR MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DYSFUNCTION IN ADOLESCENTS

Major depressive disorder is the most frequent psychiatric diagnosis a mong adolescents. It is associated with drug abuse, attention deficit disorder, separation anxiety disorder and suicide. This is the first d epression scale that has been validated in Mexico with adolescents. Th e objective of this study was to determine the construct and external criteria validity for the Birleson Scale. We included a total of 349 a dolescents between 13 and 19 years old, who were assigned into two gro ups; the first consisted of a group of 138 out-patients and the second consisted of 211, junior high and high school students. All the subje cts answered the scale which was previously translated by the double-t ranslation system. The first group was assessed with a DSM-IV semi-str uctured interview designed ad-hoc, which was considered the gold stand ard. The discrimination item analysis was carried out with the Johnson 's extreme group method; multiple comparisons with ''t'' Student's wer e also made. We calculated the specificity and the sensibility; a ROC and a factor analysis were constructed for the study. As a diagnostic test, the DSRS reports a sensibility of 87 % and a specificity of 74 % when a cut-off point of 14 was used. The Cronbach's alpha value was 0 .85. With just one element the factor analysis explained the 28.8 % of the variance. This scale can be used in clinical and epidemiological investigations of adolescents depression.