Screening for postpartum depression: a methodological note.

This research evaluated the convergence of Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) classifications with Research Diagnostic Criteria diagnoses of depression in a sample of postpartum women (N = 120). The BDI demonstrated good specificity, but poor sensitivity; it detected fewer than half of the diagnosed cases. This finding was attributed to the high rate of minor depression found among postpartum women, to which the BDI is particularly insensitive. Results indicate that the BDI is not a satisfactory screening instrument in postpartum depression research.