Validity of retrospectively-reported depressive episodes

Background: Depression and other psychopathology are often assessed retrospectively. Few studies have evaluated the validity of these reports by comparing prospectively-assessed symptoms to retrospective reports during the same time period.

Methods: This study utilized a subset of participants (n = 68) from the Oregon Adolescent Depression Project who completed at least one mailer assessment of depressive symptoms during a retrospectively-reported depressive episode. Participants completed up to seven mailer assessments of depression and suicidal ideation and diagnostic assessments that included retrospectively-reported depressive episodes that coincided with the mailer assessments.

Results: Multilevel linear models examined differences in depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation during and between retrospectively-reported depressive episodes. Results showed that individuals reported significantly higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation for retrospectively-reported depressive episodes compared to when they were not in depressive episodes. In addition, the average level of depressive symptoms endorsed during retrospectively-reported depressive episodes reached established clinical cut-offs.

Limitations: Although we were able to determine whether symptoms during retrospectively-reported depressive episodes approached clinical cut-offs, we were unable to examine whether symptoms met criteria for depressive episodes. Additionally, we could not examine whether episode severity related to recall ability, and other forms of psychopathology were not assessed.

Conclusion: These findings provide critical evidence for the validity of retrospectively-reported depressive episodes. Future research should examine whether these findings generalize across varying recall periods and retrospective assessments for other psychopathology.