Psychometric evaluation of the beck depression inventory in adults with social anxiety disorder

Although the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is commonly used to assess lev els of depressive symptoms in socially anxious adults, its psychometric pro perties in this context have never been formally examined. Therefore, we ex amined the psychometrics of the BDI in a sample of adults with a principal diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (N = 113). The BDI exhibited good inte rnal consistency and re-test reliability. It also correlated significantly more strongly with other measures of depression than with measures of eithe r social or non-social anxiety. Thus, the BDI appears to be a valid tool fo r the assessment of depressive symptoms in adults with social anxiety disor der. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.