Psychometric Aspects of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire: Implications for Clinical Assessment and Research

Abstract

The Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ) is a self-report measure that assesses self-criticism and dependency, 2 personality traits that confer vulnerability to depression (Blatt, 2004 ). Over several decades, different, shortened versions of the DEQ have been constructed to offer an alternative to the complex scoring procedure of the original DEQ. This study explores the factor structure as well as the construct and convergent validity of the DEQ by comparing a clinical and nonclinical sample. We also compared the original DEQ with 5 shortened versions. There were 621 participants (358 university students and 263 outpatients). Fit indexes for models of the original DEQ did not meet minimum fit criteria. Moreover, the only versions with satisfactory fit were the Theoretical Depressive Experiences Questionnaire-21 (TDEQ-21) and the Theoretical Depressive Experiences Questionnaire-12 (TDEQ-12), which also showed acceptable construct and convergent validity. Finally, the diagnostic and clinical applicability of the DEQ is discussed.

Anxiety and Emotional-Behavioral Problems of Adolescents in China: Evidence for A Serial Mediation Model of Alexithymia and Dependency

“…This study explored the relationship between multidimensional anxiety, alexithymia, dependence and emotional-behavioral problems in adolescents. Consistent with previous studies, adolescents with anxiety symptoms have shown increased emotional-behavioral problems [45][46][47][48], and multidimensional anxiety. Negative personalities are positive predictors of adolescent emotional-behavioral problems [22].…”

Anxiety and emotional-behavioral problems of adolescents in China: evidence for a serial mediation model of alexithymia and dependency

“…This study explored the relationship between multidimensional anxiety, alexithymia, dependence and emotional-behavioral problems in adolescents. Consistent with previous studies, adolescents with anxiety symptoms have shown increased emotional-behavioral problems [45][46][47][48], and multidimensional anxiety.…”

Childhood maltreatment, personality vulnerability profiles, and borderline personality disorder symptoms in adolescents

“…This may indicate that being self-critical and dependent is associated with greater or more severe BPDs compared with being only highly self-critical. This is consistent with previous evidence that individuals presenting an elevated polarization with both relatedness and self-definition issues present more severe borderline psychopathological manifestations than individuals that develop only either dependent (i.e., focused on relatedness issues) or self-critical (i.e., focused on autonomy and self-definition concern) traits (Blatt, Quinlan, Chevron, McDonald, & Zuroff, 1982; Campos, Holden, Baleizão, Caçador, & Fragata, 2018; Falgares et al, 2018aa; Shahar, Blatt, & Ford, 2003).…”

“…Scores for both dependency and self-criticism were obtained using the original factor score procedure of Blatt, D'Afflitti, and Quinlan (1976). The Italian version of the DEQ showed good internal consistency and validity (see Falgares et al, 2017;Falgares et al, 2018a). In the present study, Cronbach's α was .81 in the nonclinical sample and .77 in the clinical sample (.81 pooling the samples together) for dependency, and .92 in the nonclinical sample and .90 in the clinical sample (.91 pooling the samples together) for self-criticism.…”