[Parent version of the German Children's Depression Inventory (DIKJ) - reliability and validity in a clinical sample]

The psychometric properties and crossinformant agreement of the adapted parent version of the German Child Depression Inventory (DIKJ) were assessed in a clinical sample with various psychiatric diagnoses.

129 parents were included in the study, each with a child or adolescent (7 to 18 years old) in outpatient psychotherapy. In 80 cases both parent and self-report was available. Participants filled out the DIKJ as well as the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)/Youth Self Report (YSR) at the beginning of therapy.

The parent version of the DIKJ proved to be reliable as well as convergently and divergently valid: moderate to high correlations with the internalising sacles of the CBCL and low correlations with the externalising scale of the CBCL. The findings were similar for both parent and self-ratings. Intraclass correlations between parent and child ratings were moderate. DIKJ scores above the cut-off corresponded with the diagnostic status from the K-SADS diagnostic interview in 59% of the self-reports and 57% of the parent reports.

The DIKJ parent version shows promising reliability and validity in a clinical setting. The DIKJ may be used as a biperspective instrument to screen for depressive symptoms. However, the cut-off should be re-examined.