Use of the Beck Depression Inventory with three non-clinical populations.

Abstract

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered to samples from three different non-clinical populations: 402 introductory psychology students, 200 female and male expectant parents, and 268 female and male married adults. For each group, responses to the BDI were subjected to principal components, analysis with varimax rotation. The factors extracted differed considerably among the three samples, with the only factor common to all three groups being Negative Self-View. A 2 .times. 3 (sex .times. group) multivariate analysis of variance was carried out, using the 21 BDI items as dependent variables. A significant sex by group interaction for the combined DVs indicated that sex differences were not uniform across the three groups. Further analyses showed that the sex differences were largest for the expectant parents group and smallest for the adult couples group, with the student group falling in between. The implications of these results for the choice of control groups and for attempts to generalize research results across samples are discussed.