This study examined the utility of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) for predicting a diagnosis of a depressive disorder derived from the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV], American Psychiatric Association, 1994) Child Edition (KID-SCID). The participants were 80 referred children and adolescents with a mean age of 12.21 years (range = 8 to 18 years). A categorical approach by means of a receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to examine the adequacy of cutoff scores for screening purposes. The results indicated that for the suggested cutoff scores of 13 and 19, the CDI has satisfactory ROCs. A cutoff score of 16 showed an optimal relation between sensitivity and specificity. The results from logistic regression indicated that the CDI total score is predictive of a depressive disorder. The CDI also differentiated a depressive disorder from an anxiety disorder and a disruptive behavior disorder. Those results provide support for the usefulness of the CDI as a screening tool for detecting depressive disorders in children and adolescents.

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This study aimed to (1) assess relationships between the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and DSM-oriented depression and anxiety scales of the Youth Self Report (YSR); (2) develop reliable norms for the CDI; and (3) determine CDI cutoff scores for selecting youngsters at risk for depression and anxiety. A total of 3073 non-clinical and 511 clinically referred children and adolescents from The Netherlands and Belgium were included. Results showed that CDI scores were significantly related to both DSM-oriented symptoms of depression and anxiety. CDI scores correlated highly with depression symptoms and moderately with anxiety symptoms. Norms for the CDI were determined by means of multiple regression analysis and depended on sex, age, and country. CDI cutoff scores for selecting individuals at risk for depression and anxiety as measured by the DSM-oriented depression and anxiety scales of the YSR were determined by means of multiple regression analysis and ROC analysis. A CDI score of 16 was found to have the most optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity for depression, whereas a score of 21 provided the best sensitivity and specificity for anxiety in a subsample of children. It can be concluded that the CDI is an effective instrument for screening depression, and to a lesser extent anxiety, in school settings or primary and secondary care centres, before applying further assessment of high risk individuals. Keywords: CDI; Children's Depression Inventory; Cutoff; NormingThe CDI in clinical and non-clinical youth 3 Depressive symptoms are commonly experienced among youth. The epidemiological data suggest that depression in youth is a serious health care problem, which underscores the importance of using reliable and well-validated screening instruments (e.g., Birmaher et al., 1996; Birmaher, Arbelaez, & Brent 2002; Lewinsohn, Rohde, & Seeley, 1998). The measurement of depressive symptoms in youth was advanced by the development of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI: Kovacs, 1980Kovacs, /1981. The CDI was developed as a downward extension of the adult-oriented Beck Depression Inventory (BDI: Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock & Erbaugh, 1961). The CDI is a 27-item self-report inventory assessing depressed mood in children and adolescents. Respondents are asked to choose one of three descriptions that best fits how they have been feeling over the past two weeks (e.g., "I do most things wrong", "I do many things wrong", "I do everything wrong"). Responses are scored on a scale from 0 to 2, with total CDI scores ranging between 0 and 54. Although the CDI is designed to provide information about the presence and severity of depressive symptoms, it cannot by itself yield a psychiatric diagnosis. Self-report measures in the early assessment process have however also the advantage over clinical interviews that they facilitate disclosing personal material. The current study aimed to (1) assess the specificity of the relation between CDI scores and symptoms of depression and anxiety; (2) develop no...

Although studies on sub-threshold depression in childhood and adolescence have demonstrated an at risk profile that merits further attention, only few investigators examined the impact of therapy with these children. In this study, twenty elementary schoolchildren (aged 10-12) with moderate depressive symptoms were randomly assigned to an eighteen-session cognitive-behavioural treatment programme or to a waiting list (WL) control group (= Study 1). The key components of the programme "Taking Action" used in the study were: affective education, problem-solving, cognitive restructuring and engaging in enjoyable activities. Child self-reports and parent reports were used to evaluate the outcome. Paired t-tests comparing the 4-months follow-up results with baseline measurements, revealed a significant improvement on the Children Depression Inventory and on the Self-Perception Profile for Children, but only in the treatment group. Afterwards, the WL control group was treated as well. All children were followed in a long-term follow-up study (= Study 2). Analyses at the 12 month stage of the follow-up study showed a further improvement of the scores on the Self-Perception Profile. Moreover, a significant decrease was found on the Children Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Child Behaviour Checklist parent measure. It was concluded that the protocol is suitable for European children. The most remarkable findings in this pilot study are discussed.

This study examined cognitive vulnerability in both depressed and non-depressed referred youngsters. Formerly depressed (FD) children and adolescents (n = 16) were compared to a currently depressed (CD) group (n = 18) on a self-referent encoding and memory task imbedded in a mood induction paradigm. In order to test the specificity of the findings to depression, the results of the FD were further compared with those of a clinical but never depressed (ND) group (n = 39) diagnosed with anxiety and/or disruptive behaviour disorders. The study confirmed the hypothesized differences between the groups in terms of self-referent encoding bias. Both the ND (p < 0.001) and FD (p < 0.001) group rated more positive words than negative words as self-descriptive while the CD endorsed a closer balance of positive and negative words (non-significant difference). No interaction effect was found for the recall task. The FD group evinced a similar memory bias than the CD group. However, also in the ND group, the number of proportional recalled positive words did not differ from the proportional recalled negative words. The findings yielded no evidence for a depression-specific information-processing bias. However, all subjects (FD, CD as well as ND) exhibited a memory bias and therefore 'clinical status' is considered as a cognitive vulnerability risk factor for developing a depressive disorder in the future.

The present study examined self‐reported depressive symptoms and associated cognitive features by reporting data from a 1‐year longitudinal study of a community sample of 93 children and 69 adolescents. Results revealed that in childhood a negative cognitive triad appeared to be more a consequence than a predictor of depressive symptoms after 1 year. In adolescence, a negative view of the future was predictive of depressive symptoms after 1 year. A negative cognitive triad also appeared to be a consequence of depressive symptoms. The results imply that in youth depressive symptoms produce changes in the cognitive style, which may put them at risk for future episodes of depression.

Zusammenfassung. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht, ob adipöse Kinder und Jugendliche im Vergleich zu Normalgewichtigen eine negativere Selbstbewertung und mehr depressive Symptome aufweisen. Des Weiteren wird untersucht, ob sich eine depressive Symptomatik - sofern diese innerhalb der adipösen Gruppe nachgewiesen werden kann - durch ein negatives Selbstkonzept erklären lässt. Bei insgesamt 151 Kindern und Jugendlichen im Alter von 9 bis 17 Jahren (75 adipöse, 76 normalgewichtige Kinder) und deren Eltern wurden anhand verschiedener Fragebogen depressive Symptome sowie Selbst- und Fremdeinschätzungen zu Kompetenzen und Verhaltenstendenzen der Kinder zu verschiedenen (Lebens-) Bereichen erhoben. Die statistischen Analysen ergaben signifikant negativere Selbstbewertungen der adipösen Kinder und Jugendlichen in Bezug auf den athletischen Bereich als einer speziellen Komponente des Selbstkonzeptes. Für den globalen Depressionswert fanden sich keine Unterschiede zwischen adipösen und normalgewichtigen Kindern und Jugendlichen. Jedoch berichteten die Eltern übergewichtiger Kinder und Jugendlicher signifikant häufiger über Konflikte mit ihren Kindern auf emotionaler und Verhaltensebene. Regressionsanalysen ergaben, dass 42 % der Gesamtvarianz des Children's Depression Inventory (CDI, Kovacs, 1992 ) durch eine negativere Selbstbewertung aufgeklärt werden kann.

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