Measuring Depression in Children: a Multimethod Assessment Investigation

Overview

Journal J Abnorm Child Psychol

Publisher Springer

Date 1985 Dec 1

PMID 4078183

Citations 16

Authors

W M REYNOLDS

G Anderson

N Bartell

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The present investigation examined measures for the assessment of depressive symptomatology in children, as well as two related constructs (self-esteem and anxiety). The sample consisted of 166 elementary school children from grades 3 through 6. Two self-report depression measures, the Children's Depression Inventory (Kovacs, 1979) and the Child Depression Scale (Reynolds, in press), as well as anxiety and self-esteem scales, were completed by the children. Parents (mothers and fathers) evaluated their children on the depression and anxiety scales from the Personality Inventory for Children (Wirt, Lachar, Klinedinst, & Seat, 1977), and teachers provided global ratings of depression and academic performance. The results support the reliability and validity of both self-report children depression measures. Data obtained on the parent report measure do not recommend its use at this time for assessing depression in children, while results on teachers' global ratings of depression provide some evidence that teachers may be a good source of information regarding depression in children.

Citing Articles

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Social anxiety and perceptions of likeability by peers in children.

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Child and Adolescent Depression: A Review of Theories, Evaluation Instruments, Prevention Programs, and Treatments.

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