The Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition (BDI-II): A Cross-Sample Structural Analysis

ABSTRACT

A common concern about the Beck Depression Inventory, Second edition (BDI-II) among researchers in the area of depression has long been the single-factor scoring scheme. Methods exist for making cross-sample comparisons of latent structure but tend to rely on estimation methods that can be imprecise and unnecessarily complex. This study presents a computationally more efficient method for reproducing a population matrix and uses this method to evaluate competing factor solutions of the BDI-II published in the literature. The results of this study suggest our alternative method can reproduce a population matrix and when used to test various factor solutions of the BDI-II, there is a lack of evidence to suggest any one superior structure. However, the source of measurement error within some models may help inform the diagnostic utility of the BDI-II.

KEYWORDS:

• Beck Depression Inventory–II
• meta-analysis
• confirmatory factor analysis

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes on Contributors

Kamden K. Strunk, PhD, is an assistant professor of Educational Research in the Department of Educational Leadership, Foundations, and Technology at Auburn University, and a director of the Research Initiative on Social Justice and Equity (RISE). His research interests include quantitative research methods, motivation, LGBTQ issues, and equity in education.

Forrest C. Lane, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University. His research interests include statistical methods as well as affective and behavioral characteristics of college student development.