Self-report and interview measures of childhood and adolescent depression

Abstract

Childhood and adolescent depression has received increased attention in recent years, both in clinical research and practice. Evaluation of depression has been facilitated by the emergence of several self-report and interview measures designed to assess severity of depression. The present paper reviews these measures, including their characteristics, advantages and limitations. Salient considerations raised by current measures include inconsistencies in the range of symptoms they encompass, potential limitations of self-report, influences of age and age-related variables, and reliability of the measures. The validity of alternative measures is reviewed by examining the extent to which criteria for construct, content, criterion, convergent and discriminant validation are met. Recommendations are provided for areas of research to further validate measures of depression for children and adolescents.