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What does the beck depression inventory measure in college students?: Evidence from a non‐western culture
Author(s) -
Tashakkori Abbas,
Barefoot John,
Mehryar Amir H.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(198907)45:4<595::aid-jclp2270450415>3.0.co;2-4
Subject(s) - psychology , beck depression inventory , personality , clinical psychology , personality assessment inventory , psychopathology , psychometrics , depression (economics) , learned helplessness , regression analysis , eysenck personality questionnaire , big five personality traits , developmental psychology , extraversion and introversion , social psychology , psychiatry , anxiety , statistics , mathematics , economics , macroeconomics
This investigation of the factor structure of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was designed to assess Gotlib's (1984) claim that the BDI is more a measure of general psychopathology than a specific measure of depression when administered to student samples. The data were collected from Iranian students and provide further information about the performance of the BDI in a non‐Western culture. Principal components analysis of the responses to items 1‐20 of the BDI ( N = 405) revealed five factors with different degrees of similarity to findings of Hill, Kemp‐Wheeler, and Jones (1986). Within subsamples, the factor scores were predicted in multiple regression analysis from Eysenck Personality Inventory subscales (N, P, E, L), James' I‐E scale, and two measures of self‐esteem. Results indicated that the five factors had distinctly different relationships to the other personality scales. The most general factor seemed to be a measure of helplessness and self‐devaluation. These results confirm the usefulness of the BDI as a measure of depression in college student populations, even in non‐Western cultures.