Children\'s Inventory Children\'s Depression Inventory the Child

Children's Inventory

Children's Depression Inventory

The Child Depression Inventory (CDI) is a psychological measure designed as a symptom-oriented instrument that assess children's level of depression between the ages of seven and 17 years of age, and was established to evaluate symptomology associated with dysthymic disorder and major depressive disorder (Finch, 1987). The basic form of the Child Depression Inventory consists of a 27 item evaluative tool; however, there is a 10 item CDI that many practitioners use as a measure to screen clients for depression early in the assessment process. The Child Depression Inventory was originally published by Maria Kovacs in 1992 as many practitioners found it difficult to assess and diagnose depression in young children; as historically, depression was seen as a disorder usually exemplified by adults (Liss, Phares, & Liljequist, 1992).

Research Studies

Stark and Laurent in their 2001 article, "Joint Factor Analysis of the Children's Depression Inventory and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale" used the two psychological measures in an effort to identify and establish items that specifically and uniquely measured depression and anxiety as two distinct disorders. Joint factor analyses utilized by researchers, employed items from common self report adult measures of depression and anxiety. Data was secured from 750 children in grades 4 through 7, representing the ages of 7 to 13. 43% of participants were male with the remaining 57% being female. According to the distribution by grade, 29% of participants were fourth graders (n=216), 24% fifth grade (n=183), 24% 6th grade (n=183) and 22% were seventh grade students (n-168). The demographic breakdown with regard to participants revealed that 76% of the students were Caucasian, 8% African America, 12% Hispanic, and 4% labeled as other. Only .9% of the participants were registered in classes for special education. Researchers conducted analysis using a principal axis factoring with an oblique (sloped) rotation in relation to guidelines provided by Gorusch Factor Analysis (1997). Data analysis revealed large negative affectivity and overlap in items regarding anxiety and depression. These items that were not salient were subsequently eliminated by the researchers. Findings revealed that alternative scoring strategies needed to be developed to eliminate duplication and overlapping items in test results.

Chartier & Lassen (2005), "Adolescent Depression: Children's Depression Inventory Norms, Suicidal Ideation, and (Weak) Gender Effects" took normative data for the Children's Depression Inventory on 792 non-referred students in grades 7 through 12. Researchers administered the CDI in group format via the participant's homeroom teachers during regular homeroom period. Complete anonymity was assured with the participants. According to the data retrieved by way of the Children's Depression Inventory the 480 females participating in the study endorsed increased depression symptomology more significantly than the male participants. In the sample population for this particular study, approximately 8.3% of the children were determined to be depressed. With the use of chi-square analysis, no significant gender or grade differences were denoted in the number of children who scored above or below the established cutoff of 19 out of 27 items.