Cross-cultural comparison of depressive symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory-II, across six population samples

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and BDI-II (revised version) are some of the most widely used and comparable self-report scales for assessing the presence and severity of depressive symptoms in many countries. However, although the relative mean score of each symptom in different countries may vary, the cultural differences of BDI-II symptoms for each item have not been previously studied.

To examine the overall picture of the magnitude of the symptoms in the Finnish population, and compare the relative mean score of each symptom between all published population-based samples from different countries fulfilling the search criteria.

We conducted a search for population-based studies reporting BDI-II item, using Scopus, PsycINFO and PubMed, and five population-based samples were identified. Relative average scores for each item of the scale were calculated for the Finnish population and five populations from other countries. Meta-regression methods were used to test the differences in the relative score of each symptom between each country separately, and results were then visually compared with spider charts.

We found significant differences in several BDI-II item scores between countries: lower indecisiveness, higher changes in sleep pattern and higher irritability in Finland; higher loss of pleasure in Norway; higher loss of interest in the Dominic Republic; higher self-criticalness and feelings of punishment in Mexico; and higher sadness in Japan.

Based on the study fundings and including all currently published population-based samples with BDI-II scores, cultural differences in depressive symptoms should be considered when interpreting BDI-II item scores.