Gender-Related Invariance of the Beck Depression Inventory II for Taiwanese Adolescent Samples

The Chinese version of Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II-C) is one of the most used instruments to measure the severity of depression in Taiwan. The scarce literature regarding its psychometric properties (e.g., measurement invariance) highlighted the need and significance for such an investigation. The purpose of this study was to examine the gender-related measurement invariance of the BDI-II-C in an adolescent sample facing an entrance examination in the following two ways: (a) examining configural, metric, and scalar invariance using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses and (b) estimating the effects of any detected noninvariance on mean differences. The participants included 827 (416 boys and 411 girls) Taiwanese adolescents. Results indicate that measurement invariance was established at the level of configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance. Seven noninvariant intercepts (Items 2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 19) were identified, showing that there was differential additive response style bias for the BDI-II-C across gender groups. Additionally, the results demonstrated that the noninvariance had significant effects on interpretation based on gender latent mean difference as well as observed mean difference.