TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring depression in autistic adults
T2 - Psychometric validation of the Beck Depression Inventory-II
AU - Williams, Zachary J.
AU - Everaert, Jonas
AU - Gotham, Katherine O.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Sources of support included grants from the National Institutes of Health ( https://www.nih.gov/ ): National Institute of General Medical Sciences T32-GM007347 (ZJW); Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation (ZJW); National Institute of Mental Health K01-MH103500 (KG), R01-MH113576 (KG), T32-MH18921 (KG); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development U54-HD083211; Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research support via Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap; UL1-TR000445 from National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences [NIH]); and the Belgian American Educational Foundation ( http://www.baef.be/ ) to JE.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Depressive disorders are common in autistic adults, but few studies have examined the extent to which common depression questionnaires are psychometrically appropriate for use in this population. Using item response theory, this study examined the psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI-II) in a sample of 947 autistic adults. BDI-II latent trait scores exhibited strong reliability, construct validity, and moderate ability to discriminate between depressed and nondepressed adults on the autism spectrum (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.796 [0.763, 0.826], sensitivity = 0.820 [0.785, 0.852], specificity = 0.653 [0.601, 0.699]). These results collectively indicate that the BDI-II is a valid measure of depressive symptoms in autistic adults, appropriate for quantifying depression severity in research studies or screening for depressive disorders in clinical settings. A free online score calculator has been created to facilitate the use of BDI-II latent trait scores for clinical and research applications (available at https://asdmeasures.shinyapps.io/bdi_score/).
AB - Depressive disorders are common in autistic adults, but few studies have examined the extent to which common depression questionnaires are psychometrically appropriate for use in this population. Using item response theory, this study examined the psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI-II) in a sample of 947 autistic adults. BDI-II latent trait scores exhibited strong reliability, construct validity, and moderate ability to discriminate between depressed and nondepressed adults on the autism spectrum (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.796 [0.763, 0.826], sensitivity = 0.820 [0.785, 0.852], specificity = 0.653 [0.601, 0.699]). These results collectively indicate that the BDI-II is a valid measure of depressive symptoms in autistic adults, appropriate for quantifying depression severity in research studies or screening for depressive disorders in clinical settings. A free online score calculator has been created to facilitate the use of BDI-II latent trait scores for clinical and research applications (available at https://asdmeasures.shinyapps.io/bdi_score/).
KW - autism spectrum disorder
KW - depression
KW - psychometric
KW - Beck Depression Inventory-II
KW - item response theory
KW - ITEM RESPONSE THEORY
KW - SPECTRUM DISORDER
KW - ANXIETY DISORDER
KW - SOCIAL ANXIETY
KW - YOUNG-ADULTS
KW - SELF
KW - ADOLESCENTS
KW - OUTCOMES
KW - INDIVIDUALS
KW - PREVALENCE
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089979240&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1073191120952889
DO - 10.1177/1073191120952889
M3 - Article
SN - 1073-1911
VL - 28
SP - 858
EP - 876
JO - Assessment
JF - Assessment
IS - 3
ER -