title: Lack of age differences in the Beck Depression Inventory-II scores of clinically depressed adolescent outpatients.
abstract: To assess whether the mean Beck Depression Inventory-II scores of adolescents who were diagnosed with unipolar depressive disorders differed with respect to age, the inventory was administered to 144 (60%) female and 96 (40%) male outpatients between 13 and 17 yr. who were diagnosed with depressive disorders. The internal consistency of the scores was high (coefficient alpha=.89). A factorial analysis of variance was used to test for the main effects of age, sex, ethnicity, type of depressive disorder, comorbidity, and the two-way interactions of age with the other main effects. The mean scores were not differentiated by age or by the interactions of age with the other effects. The lack of age differences in this 5-year range on the mean scores of clinically depressed adolescents was discussed with respect to previous findings that have reported such differences in adolescents and adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, School of Osteopathic Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford 08084-1391, USA.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Krefetz
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Steer
authors.forename: Geetha
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kumar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015897:Comorbidity; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D019263:Dysthymic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires