The effects of depression upon responses to the California Psychological Inventory.

Abstract

Studied the effect of depression on responses to the California Psychological Inventory (CPI). Data were collected from a volunteer sample of 33 males and 32 females using the CPI scales, clinical ratings of depression, and the scores from two widely-used measures of depression: The Beck Inventory and the MMPI-D scale. Depression was found to significantly decrease scores on a majority of the CPI scales. For males, the CPI scales which were the best discriminators of depression were SY, SO, and IE. For females, the best discriminators were the same scales except for WB in place of SY. Overall, the results indicate that when SY, SO, WB, and IE are more then one standard deviation below the mean, depression is likely. The implication of these findings for the interpretation of the CPI and its use as a screening device are discussed.