The development and psychometric investigation of the university student depression inventory.
BACKGROUND
Depression is prevalent among university students. It is debilitating and affects the academic performance of students. One of the most common reasons why students consult counselling centres is depression. Therefore it is important to assess the university students' depression by valid measures designed particularly for this purpose.


METHODS
The present study developed the "University Student Depression Inventory" (USDI) to measure the depressive symptoms of university students.


RESULTS
Items based on a broad range of depression symptoms were subjected to factor analysis, resulting in a 30 item scale with three subscales: Lethargy; Cognitive/Emotional; and Academic Motivation. Psychometric investigation revealed satisfactory reliability and divergent and convergent validity.


CONCLUSIONS
It is expected that multidimensional USDI would be a useful tool for university counselling services to assess the depression of the students.
Khawaja
Nigar G
NG
School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Carseldine Campus, Beams Road, Carseldine Q, 4034, Brisbane, Australia. n.khawaja@qut.edu.au
Bryden
Kelly J
KJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053609:Lethargy / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D011793:Queensland; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*