Symptom Endorsement Differences on the Children's Depression Inventory With Children and Adolescents on an Inpatient Unit

Abstract

Responses to the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1992), administered during intake, were collected from 521 children and adolescents (aged 7 to 17) at an inpatient crisis stabilization unit. Participants were grouped into 1 of 3 diagnostic groups: solely depressive, solely aggressive, or both depressive and aggressive. Self-report of symptoms for each diagnostic group, age and gender differences, and racial and ethnic differences in symptoms were examined in this study. There was a significant difference between the endorsement pattern of solely depressive and solely aggressive participants, whereas those categorized as both depressive and aggressive displayed an endorsement pattern similar to those who were solely aggressive. There was a significant gender difference in overall symptom report, with girls showing higher overall symptom levels than boys. This gender difference was significant for both the younger and the older age groups. These results held true even when gender was covaried out of the diagnostic group analyses and when diagnostic group was covaried out of the gender analyses. Symptom endorsement did not differ based on race and ethnicity. The primary contribution of this study centers around the findings from the item analyses of the CDI. These results are discussed in relation to the discriminant validity of the CDI and the need for additional research into comorbidity.