Cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the beck depression inventory among university students

Accurate assessment of depressive symptoms requires instruments that are both psychometrically sound and culturally appropriate. This study examined the cultural adaptation and psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) among 600 Ghanaian university students, focusing on reliability, factor structure, and cross-cultural construct validity. Following item refinement, psychometric analyses were conducted on a 15-item version of the BDI, reduced from the original 21-item instrument. Comparisons across gender, language, and regional subgroups indicated broadly consistent factor structures, high internal consistency (α = 0.89–0.91; ω = 0.90–0.92), acceptable composite reliability (CR = 0.91–0.93), and convergent validity (AVE = 0.51–0.54), with factor congruence coefficients ≥ 0.96. However, because formal measurement invariance testing was not conducted, these findings should be interpreted as preliminary evidence of cross-group and cross-cultural stability rather than definitive evidence of measurement invariance. Exploratory factor analysis supported a five-factor structure cognitive, affective, somatic, interpersonal, and motivational/behavioral accounting for 68.3% of the total variance, with strong factor loadings and moderate inter-factor correlations (0.42–0.62), indicating multidimensionality without redundancy. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated good model fit (CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.93; RMSEA = 0.054; SRMR = 0.045), confirming structural validity. Cross-cultural analyses across gender, language, and regional subgroups revealed stable factor structures, high reliability (α = 0.89–0.91; ω = 0.90–0.92), and strong construct validity (CR = 0.91–0.93; AVE = 0.51–0.54), with factor congruence coefficients ≥ 0.96. In all, the culturally adapted BDI is a reliable, valid, and multidimensional tool for assessing depressive symptoms among Ghanaian university students, supporting its use in culturally sensitive research and practice.