USE OF THE BECK DEPRESSION INVENTORY-II WITH ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC OUTPATIENTS

To provide information on the use of the Beck Depression Inventory-ii (BDI-II) with adolescents, the BDI-II was administered to 105 male and 105 female outpatients between 12 and 18 years old who were seeking p sychiatric treatment. The internal consistency of the BDI-II was high (coefficient alpha = .92). The mean BDI-II total score of the girls wa s approximately 5 points higher than that of the boys (p < .001), and age (years) was positively correlated with the BDI-II total scores (r = .18, p < .01). An iterated principal-factor analysis identified thre e factors, but only the Cognitive and Somatic-Affective factors were g eneralizable.