ABSTRACT
The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) is a standard self-report scale for depression symptoms. Since the scale, and its norms, were developed with samples in the United States, it is important to establish norms for the scale when using it in contexts outside of the US The excerpt reports on an attempt to establish norms for the scale with a Dutch sample. The BDI-II contains 21 items, and scores range from 0 to 63. Scores in the twenties are generally considered to be suggestive of the presence of moderate depressive symptoms. A random selection of individuals in the general population received an invitation letter to complete a screening questionnaire via the internet. Six municipalities in the Southern part of the Netherlands cooperated by providing a total of 217,816 names and addresses, and letters were sent to these addresses with the request to participate in the study.
