title: The Children's Depression Inventory: error in cutoff scores for screening purposes.
abstract: The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) is used to screen for depression in school-age children. Such screening uses the manual's reported information on suggested cutoff scores. These cutoff scores are based on an erroneous base-rate calculation and an inadequate methodology. Data are provided showing that for the suggested cutoff scores of 13 or 20, the CDI has poor receiver-operating characteristics. Indeed, for the cutoff score of 20, suggested as being suitable for screening in the general population (e.g., schools), clinicians will miss 86% of depressed children. In conclusion, it is recommended that the CDI is better suited as a continuous measure of mood and that cutoff scores should not be used to screen for the likely presence or absence of depression.
authors.affiliation: Paediatric Mental Health Service, South Western Sydney Area Health Service, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia. pmhs@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matthey
authors.forename: Pandora
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Petrovski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans