Reliability of the Beck Depression Inventory with older adults.

Examined the test–retest, split-half, and coefficient alpha reliability of the Beck Depression Inventory with a sample of 82 elderly community volunteers (mean age 69.9 yrs) and 77 depressed outpatients (mean age 67.8 yrs). All 3 indexes were reasonably high in the total sample and fell within the accepted range of reliability for a clinical screening instrument. As expected, internal consistency was lower when determined for the 2 separate samples. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)