Saylor, C. F., Finch, A. J., Spirito, A., & Benett, B. (1984). The Children's Depression Inventory: A systematic evaluation of psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52(6), 955-967.
Sample:
Participants — 294 school children 7 to 16 years old and 269 children 7 to 16 years old who were psychiatric inpatients
Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified
Summary:
Participants in this study included normal school children and children from the Virginia Treatment Center for Children who had a variety of diagnoses of behavioral and emotional disturbance. Analyses showed that the CDI had high levels of internal reliability using test-retest and split-half procedures for both normal and emotionally disturbed children. Validity testing showed that hospitalized children had significantly higher scores than normal children. However, the measure did not distinguish specifically between depressed and non-depressed children who were categorized using DSM-III criteria. The authors note that sample sizes for the validity testing were small and depression scores were highly variable.
Finch, A. J., Saylor, C. F., Edwards, G. L, & McIntosh, J. A. (1987). Children's Depression Inventory: Reliability over repeated administrations. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 16(4), 339-341.
Sample:
Participants — 108 7-to-12-year old children enrolled in Florida public schools
Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified
Summary:
Children completed the CDI at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 6 weeks. Reliability was good, with correlations ranging from .82 at 2 week intervals to .66 for longer intervals. The authors note that scores decrease from initial to later administrations, suggesting the need for multiple baseline measures to gather accurate information over time, prior to treatment.
Carey, M. P., Faulstich, M. E., Gresham, F. M., Ruggiero, L., & Enyar, P. (1987). Children's Depression Inventory: Construct and discriminant validity across clinical and nonreferred (control) populations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55(5), 755-761.
Sample:
Participants — 153 child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients and 153 non-referred children from public schools and a charity hospital in the southern U.S. Ages ranged from 9 to 17 years.
Race/Ethnicity — 59% White, 38% Black, 3% Other.
Summary:
Factor analysis of the CDI scores for the samples in this study suggested that the scale items correlate to form subscales of Depressive Affect and Oppositional Behavior, with a possible third factor of Personal Adjustment. The CDI successfully discriminated between psychiatric and non-referred children. However, the scale did not successfully distinguish depressed youth from youth diagnosed with conduct disorder. The authors suggest that the CDI may be used as a screening, but not a diagnostic tool.
Romano, B. A., & Nelson, R. O. (1988). Discriminant and concurrent validity measures of children's depression. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 17(3), 255-259.
Sample:
Participants — 21 children 8 to 11 years old who were inpatients at a private psychiatric hospital or recruited from the community.
Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified
Summary:
This study compares scores for children diagnosed with depression, children with other psychopathologies and normal children on the CDI self-report (CDI), the CDI parent version (CDI-P) and the CBCL Depression scale. The CDI successfully discriminated between groups, although the parent version did not distinguish between the two groups of hospitalized children. Child and parent reports were significantly correlated with each other. This study is limited by a small sample size.
Wendel, N. H., Nelson, W. M., Politano, P. M., Mayhall, C. A., & Finch, A. J. (1988). Differentiating inpatient clinically-diagnosed and normal children using the Children's Depression Inventory. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 19(2), 98-108.
Sample:
Participants — 275 children from psychiatric hospital and 1,269 children from public schools. Ages ranged from 6-18 years.
Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified
Summary:
Hospitalized children were divided into an affective disordered and a conduct disordered group based on diagnosis by a child psychologist and a child psychiatrist. The hospital sample received the CDI individually and the school children received the CDI items read to them in a group setting. Analyses showed that, based on total score the CDI was unable to correctly classify hospitalized children or to differentiate between depressed and conduct disordered children, suggesting low discriminant validity. The authors caution against using the CDI as a diagnostic tool, but suggest it may have some utility as a screening tool in normal populations.
Mattison, R. E., Handford, H. A., Kales, H. C., Goodman, A. L., & McLaughlin, R. E. (1990). Four-year predictive value of the Children's Depression Inventory. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2(2), 169-174.
Sample:
Participants — 105 children between 8 and 16 years of age in a private residential school.
Race/Ethnicity — Not Specified
Summary:
At baseline, children were divided into groups based on high or low CDI scores. The current study re-evaluated the children at 2 and 4 years. Children rated themselves with the CDI and also received the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). Houseparents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and teachers completed the Teacher Report Form to assess problem behaviors. Children who originally had high CDI scores were significantly more likely to remain high at later points of measurement. They also rated themselves as more anxious and were more likely to have high Internalizing scores on the CBCL, except at Year 4. The authors also report that children with high CDI scores had poorer academic performance and were more likely to leave school under negative circumstances.
Hodges, K. (1990). Depression and anxiety in children: A comparison of self-report questionnaires to clinical interview. Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2(4), 376-381.
Sample:
Participants — 70 psychiatrically hospitalized children at Duke University Medical Center.
Race/Ethnicity — 61% White, 38% Black, 1% Oriental.
Summary:
Children received the CDI, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC). They were also interviewed using the Child Assessment Scale, based on DSM-III criteria for conduct disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression. Children diagnosed with depression showed significant differences in scores on the CDI, while those in the other two diagnostic groups did not. However, the CDI was less successful at correctly placing children with a diagnosis of depression, suggesting that the measure can be used for screening purposes but not for diagnosis.
