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The absence of tools to assess depression in juveniles prompted the development of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) several decades ago. The initial CDI included 27 items; a shorter version and versions to be completed by parents and teachers about a child also were developed. The CDI suite of tools was recently updated and is now called the CDI 2. The CDI 2 was administered to a new, nationally representative, normative U.S. sample, aged 7–17 years (and their parents), and a separate clinically referred sample. Just like their predecessors, the CDI 2 questionnaires have excellent psychometric properties. They can be administered and scored in paper‐and‐pencil, computer‐based, and online versions. Standardized t ‐scores serve to compare a child's profile to similarly aged, same‐sexed peers in the standardization sample. The CDI 2 tools are being used in school, clinical, and research settings, for the reliable, fast, inexpensive, multiperspective assessment of pediatric depressive symptoms.

Describes the rationale, development, and validation of the Scale for Suicide Ideation, a 19-item clinical research instrument designed to quantify and assess suicidal intention. In a sample with 90 hospitalized Ss, the scale was found to have high internal consistency and moderately high correlations with clinical ratings of suicidal risk and self-administered measures of self-harm. Furthermore, it was sensitive to changes in levels of depression and hopelessness (Beck Depression Inventory and Hopelessness Scale, respectively) over time. Its construct validity was supported by 2 studies by different investigators testing the relationship between hopelessness, depression, and suicidal ideation and by a study demonstrating a significant relationship between high level of suicidal ideation and "dichotomous" attitudes about life and related concepts on a semantic differential test. Factor analysis yielded 3 meaningful factors: Active Suicidal Desire, Specific Plans for Suicide, and Passive Suicidal Desire. (29 ref)

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