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Beck Depression Inventory-II

BDI-II
psychologyhealth sciencesLicensed: permission required

Permission: Licensed: permission required. Obtain permission from the copyright holder before using it in a study.

A 21-item self-report measure of depression severity over the past two weeks, aligned with DSM criteria; each item presents four statements of increasing severity (0-3).

Items
21
Response format
4-point severity scale (0-3)
Version
1.0
Subscales
2

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Depressive symptom severity was measured with the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck et al., 1996), a 21-item self-report scale with excellent internal consistency (α ≈ .92); totals of 14, 20, and 29 mark mild, moderate, and severe thresholds.

Citing this in a methods section? This scale spans more than one discipline, so the style depends on where you publish. See the APA 7 or Vancouver guides, or compare all six citation styles.

Permission required

Importing BDI-II into a Surveyor study is disabled: Folio holds the instrument’s metadata, not a license to pass on its wording. The citation, scoring and reliability details on this page are free to use and cite.

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Reliability & validation

Validation population
Psychiatric outpatients and college students (Beck et al., 1996)
Test–retest
0.93
Cronbach's α
0.92

Subscales

CognitiveSomatic-Affective

Known limitations

Licensed/proprietary (permission and purchase required from Pearson). A severity index, not a diagnosis; somatic items may inflate scores in medically ill populations.

Original citation

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Psychological Corporation.

This instrument is licensed. Folio does not distribute its item wording. Obtain permission from the copyright holder before using it in your study.

Questions researchers ask

What does the BDI-II measure?

A 21-item self-report measure of depression severity over the past two weeks, aligned with DSM criteria; each item presents four statements of increasing severity (0-3).

How many items does the BDI-II have?

The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) has 21 items across 2 subscales: Cognitive, Somatic-Affective.

Is the BDI-II free to use?

The BDI-II is licensed. You must obtain permission from the copyright holder before using it in a study. Folio does not distribute its item wording without that permission.

Is the BDI-II reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.92, test–retest reliability of 0.93. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the BDI-II, and how do I cite it?

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Psychological Corporation.

Or track new research mentioning BDI-II as it publishes

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Library entry verified July 2026. Metadata is provided for reference; item wording is available inside Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing.