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The Children’s Depression Inventory and classification of major depressive disorder

Validity and reliability of the Danish version

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Abstract

The study examines the validity and reliability of the Danish version of the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) in a child psychiatric population. Participants were 149 child psychiatric patients aged 8–13 and their parents. After diagnostic interview with the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, the children completed the CDI. A subgroup of 44 children repeated the CDI after 2 weeks. The psychometric properties of the Danish CDI were similar to those reported for the English version. CDI is moderately correlated with other measures for depressive disorder, but the instrument is not sufficiently reliable or valid to be used as a single diagnostic or screening measure in a child psychiatric population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatric Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Harald Selmersvej 66, 8240, Risskov, Denmark

    Merete Juul Sørensen & Per Hove Thomsen

  2. Department for Biostatistics, Aarhus University, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Morten Frydenberg

  3. Department of Psychology, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Mikael Thastum

Authors
  1. Merete Juul Sørensen
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  2. Morten Frydenberg
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  3. Mikael Thastum
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  4. Per Hove Thomsen
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Correspondence to Merete Juul Sørensen.

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Sørensen, M.J., Frydenberg, M., Thastum, M. et al. The Children’s Depression Inventory and classification of major depressive disorder. Europ.Child & Adolescent Psych 14, 328–334 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-005-0479-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-005-0479-2

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