title: Comparison of three depression rating scales.
abstract: We directly compared scores on the self-rated Beck Depression Inventory with two other common rating scales that assess a wider range of psychopathology, including depression, the self-rated Symptom Check List-90--R (SCL-90--R), and the clinician-rated Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale for 71 inpatients who suffered from depression (n = 50) and other disorders. All measures of depression showed robust correlations among themselves. The self-rated scales correlated better between themselves than with the clinician-rated scale. Since the SCL-90--R assesses depression as well as the Beck inventories, is also a self-report instrument, yet provides a richer description of psychopathology with little extra effort, it may have some advantage over the latter.
authors.affiliation: SUNY Health Science Center, Department of Psychiatry, Syracuse 13210.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Margo
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Dewan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Greenberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology