Validating the Measurement and Structure of the Beck Depression Inventory across English and French Nonclinical Adolescents.

The aims of the present study were threefold: (1) to test for the equivalency of an hierarchical three-factor structure of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) across English and French versions for non-clinical adolescents; (2) given evidence of poor model fit, to validate the factorial structure of the BDI French version across three independent samples (n=336; n=435; and n=381, respectively) of French Canadian non-clinical adolescents using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic procedures; and (3) to compare the factorial pattern of BDI measurement and structure across English and French versions of the BDI. The data comprised BDI French responses from 1,152 French Canadian high school students (551 males and 601 females) and BDI English responses from 685 English Canadian high school students (351 males and 334 females). Although both versions of the BDI were found to be best represented by a hierarchical three-factor structure, a differential pattern of loadings was evidenced for eight of the items. Except for three items, factorial measurement and structure related to the French BDI were found to be equivalent across two independent samples. Findings carry important implications for the interpretation of scores derived from both the English and French versions of the BDI in the measurement of depression for non-clinical adolescents. Four tables and two figures present study data. A 30-item list of references is included. An appendix lists items from the BDI. (Author/SLD)