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Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory‐II with incarcerated male offenders aged 18–21 years
Author(s) -
Palmer Emma J.,
Binks Claire
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.701
Subject(s) - beck depression inventory , psychology , depression (economics) , clinical psychology , internal consistency , population , psychiatry , psychometrics , medicine , anxiety , environmental health , economics , macroeconomics
Background The Beck Depression Inventory – Second Edition (BDI‐II) is a self‐report measure of depression. Studies have shown it to have good psychometric properties with adult and adolescent clinical and non‐clinical populations. However, this research has mostly been conducted with North American samples. Aims/hypotheses To examine the psychometric characteristics of the BDI‐II with male young adult offenders in the UK. Methods The BDI‐II was administered to 117 incarcerated male young adult offenders aged 18–21 years from the UK. Results The BDI‐II showed good internal consistency and concurrent validity. Factor analysis revealed two factors, relating to cognitive‐affective items and somatic items. The items loading on the two factors were very similar to those found in a North American adolescent (13–17 years) psychiatric inpatient sample. Conclusions and implications for future research The findings suggest that the BDI‐II can be used with confidence in young adult male offenders. It would be useful to confirm its psychometric properties in other offender samples and establish offender population norms. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.