BY DAVID J. BERNDT, PHD AND CHARLES F. KAISER, PHD
This unique self-report inventory with items written by children assesses depression in 8- to 17-year-olds. A downward extension of the highly regarded Multiscore Depression Inventory, the MDI-C lets youngsters indicate how they feel, giving you a childs-eye view of their emotional world. Its ideal for both routine screening and clinical assessment. The MDI-C is the first measure of childhood depression with items created by children, written in their own words. During test development, children between 8 and 13 years of age reviewed MDI-C items, and items were revised, reworded, or added based on their suggestions. Consequently, MDI-C items have excellent face validity. Written at a second-grade reading level, theyre brief, easy to understand, and meaningful to children. Completed in just 15 to 20 minutes, the MDI-C includes 79 true-false items on eight scales:
Anxiety
Self-Esteem
Social Introversion
Instrumental Helplessness
Sad Mood
Pessimism
Low Energy
Defiance
The inventory provides raw scores, percentiles, and normalized T-scores for each scale, plus a Total Score. An Infrequency Index tells you whether the child has responded in a careless or erratic way. And one item on the inventory functions as a Suicide Risk Indicator. Norms, separated by age and sex, are based on a national sample of more than 1,400 normal children and adolescents from 8 to 17 years of age. The MDI-C can be used to assess a wide range of children, including both mildly and severely depressed youngsters. Because it measures various depression-related features separately, the inventory can help in planning treatment and monitoring its progress over time. The MDI-C taps mood states that tend to be stable and persistentit is comparatively insensitive to transient fluctuations in affect. Therefore, it can reliably assess real change in overall emotional well-being and in specific feelings, such as anxiety.
BY DAVID J. BERNDT, PHD AND CHARLES F. KAISER, PHD
This unique self-report inventory with items written by children assesses depression in 8- to 17-year-olds. A downward extension of the highly regarded Multiscore Depression Inventory, the MDI-C lets youngsters indicate how they feel, giving you a childs-eye view of their emotional world. Its ideal for both routine screening and clinical assessment. The MDI-C is the first measure of childhood depression with items created by children, written in their own words. During test development, children between 8 and 13 years of age reviewed MDI-C items, and items were revised, reworded, or added based on their suggestions. Consequently, MDI-C items have excellent face validity. Written at a second-grade reading level, theyre brief, easy to understand, and meaningful to children. Completed in just 15 to 20 minutes, the MDI-C includes 79 true-false items on eight scales:
Anxiety
Self-Esteem
Social Introversion
Instrumental Helplessness
Sad Mood
Pessimism
Low Energy
Defiance
The inventory provides raw scores, percentiles, and normalized T-scores for each scale, plus a Total Score. An Infrequency Index tells you whether the child has responded in a careless or erratic way. And one item on the inventory functions as a Suicide Risk Indicator. Norms, separated by age and sex, are based on a national sample of more than 1,400 normal children and adolescents from 8 to 17 years of age. The MDI-C can be used to assess a wide range of children, including both mildly and severely depressed youngsters. Because it measures various depression-related features separately, the inventory can help in planning treatment and monitoring its progress over time. The MDI-C taps mood states that tend to be stable and persistentit is comparatively insensitive to transient fluctuations in affect. Therefore, it can reliably assess real change in overall emotional well-being and in specific feelings, such as anxiety.
