Analysis of convergent and discriminant validity of the Spanish experimental version of the State-Trait Depression Questionnaire (ST-DEP).

Introduction: This article reports data on the convergent and divergent validity of the Spanish adaptation of Spielberger's State-Trait Depression Questionnaire (ST-DEP). This questionnaire is a new tool because it offers an alternative to the obstacles found in most of the depression assessment scales that are differentiated in the content they evaluate and their estimation of depression levels.

Methodology: The present study was carried out with a sample of 300 participants (103 males and 197 females), with mean age of 21.82 (2.74 s.d.) for males and 22.26 (3.66 s.d.) for females. All participants received information about the investigation and participated voluntarily.

Results And Conclusions: The results indicate high and significant correlations of the Spanish ST-DEP scales with other depression measures (BDI, BDQ-R), thus showing the convergent validity of this questionnaire. Highly significant correlations between the Spanish ST-DEP and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) also appear, confirming that reported about the comorbidity between both disorders and the high scores in anxiety that subjects with depression have. In contrast, correlations with the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI-2) were low and non-significant in most cases, which demonstrated the divergent validity of the ST-DEP.