title: Low-end specificity of four depression measures: findings and suggestions for the research use of depression tests.
abstract: Past research has found that very low scorers on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) tend to respond in a "fake-good" manner on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) validity scales. This findings was interpreted as evidence of poor "low-end specificity." This study replicated and extended this work by evaluating the low-end specificity of four popular depression measures. The evidence of problems with low-end specificity was strong for the BDI and marginal for the Profile of Mood States depression subscale. Interestingly, MMPI scores in the "normal" range were associated with "fake-good" responding, whereas very low and high scores were not. There was no evidence of an association between fake-good responding and scores on Exner's Depression Index for the Rorschach. Implications of these findings and guidelines for dealing with problems with low-end specificity in research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department Loyola University of Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Beebe
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Finer
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Holmbeck
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008950:MMPI; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012106:Research