Reliability and Validity of the Beck Depression Inventory in a Dutch College Population

Abstract
The reliability and the validity of the standard 21-item form of the Beck Depression Inventory were investigated for a sample of 85 female and 118 male university students. No sex differences were observed. The internal consistency reliability was .82. The Zung Self-rating Depression Scale was used as a congruent depression scale and correlated significantly with the Beck scores ( r = .69). The results indicate a satisfactory reliability and validity for the translated Beck inventory, although the use of a nonclinical sample prevents generalization to clinically depressed populations.