Children's Depression Inventory: Reliability Over Repeated Administrations

We assessed the test-retest reliability of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) in 108 normal 7- to 12-year-old children. All children completed the CDI initially and at 2-week, 4-week, and 6-week intervals. Reliability coefficients ranged from .82 over 2 weeks to. 66 and .67 for the longer intervals. CDI scores decreased significantly over trials, with the greatest change occurring from the first to the second trial. Results were compared to previous findings, and implications for those employing the CDI as an outcome measure over repeated trials were discussed.