The Beck Inventory: psychometric properties in university students

The psychometric properties of the Beck Inventory (BI), a revised, copyrighted version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), were investigated in 204 university students. Two-week test-retest reliability was .90, coefficient alpha was .87, concurrent validity using the BDI as the criterion was .94, and the correlation between level of depression as measured by the two instruments was .86. The mean score on the BI was significantly but only one-half point lower than that on the BDI. Individual items were all highly and significantly correlated, but a significantly lower BI mean score occurred on the Sadness, Suicidal Ideas and Insomnia items. Depression was not significantly related to demographic variables.