Effects of repeated administration of the Beck Depression Inventory and other measures of negative mood states

A methodological problem that has not been given serious attention by researchers using repeated administrations of mood or “state” measures is the potential for testing effects. The occurrence of testing effects in these cases makes interpretation of results difficult. The danger of not being aware of these effects is that a researcher may mistakenly identify a testing effect as an effect of treatment or as evidence of change. Such an effect has been observed in past research with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and other measures of negative moods. The present study addressed this issue by examining the effects of repeated administration of the BDI and other popular state measures. Results indicated that testing effects occurred for several of the measures. These findings have implications for treatment effectiveness research and research design considerations. Hypotheses concerning the nature of the testing effect are offered, including socially desirable responding, mood-congruent associative processing and selfmonitoring.