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Gender and the children's depression inventory's (CDI) ‘crying’ question

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Frank Houghton ,
Hilary Cowley ,
Kevin Kelleher  and
Sharon Houghton
Kevin Kelleher
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, HSE-Mid-West, Pery Court, Reeves Path, Upper Mallow St, Limerick, Ireland
Sharon Houghton
Affiliation:
Brothers of Charity Services, Limerick, Ireland
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Abstract

Objectives: Following disruption from students, particularly boys, during the administration of item 10, the ‘feel like crying’ question, of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), this study sought to explore the issue of non-response to this question. It was decided that particular attention should be given to gender differences in responses and non-responses, based on the experiences of researchers administering this measure.

Method: Chi-square analysis of non-responses was conducted on CDI items collected from a total sample of 2,297 second year and pre-leaving certificate students from 23 randomly selected schools in the Mid-West region of Ireland.

Results: Analysis identified item 10 as being significantly less likely to be completed than any other item. Further analysis revealed that boys were significantly less likely to respond to this question than girls.

Conclusion: A modification of the wording to item 10 is suggested to ameliorate this difficulty.

Keywords

Children's Depression InventoryCryingGenderBoys.
Type
Brief Reports
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , June 2005 , pp. 52 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

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