Psychometric analysis of the brief symptom inventory 18 (BSI-18) in a representative German sample

Table 1 Item- and scale statistics, reliability, and convergent validity in the total sample (N = 2516)

No	Item	M (SD)	Corrected item-total correlation	α Without the item	PHQ-Depression correlations	PHQ-Anxiety correlations
Scale 1: Somatization (α = .82)		∑1.46 (2.58)			.52**	.48**
1	Faintness or dizziness	0.19 (0.51)	.56	.80
4	Pains in heart or chest	0.23 (0.56)	.61	.79
7	Nausea or upset stomach	0.28 (0.63)	.49	.81
10	Trouble getting your breath	0.22 (0.57)	.65	.78
13	Numbness or tingling in parts of your body	0.22 (0.60)	.55	.80
16	Feeling weak in parts of your body	0.33 (0.69)	.66	.77
Scale 2: Depression (α = .87)		∑1.76 (3.23)			.72**	.71**
2	Feeling no interest in things	0.36 (0.69)	.67	.85
5	Feeling lonely	0.42 (0.82)	.66	.85
8	Feeling blue	0.27 (0.67)	.78	.83
11	Feelings of worthlessness	0.26 (0.69)	.74	.83
14	Feeling hopeless about the future	0.39 (0.83)	.73	.84
17	Thoughts of ending your life	0.07 (0.36)	.51	.88
Scale 3: Anxiety (α = .84)		∑1.44 (2.59)			.63**	.72**
3	Nervousness or shakiness inside	0.27 (0.62)	.66	.80
6	Feeling tense or keyed up	0.50 (0.77)	.59	.83
9	Suddenly scared for no reason	0.17 (0.50)	.62	.81
12	Spells of terror or panic	0.10 (0.39)	.66	.82
15	Feeling so restless you couldn’t sit still	0.23 (0.60)	.66	.80
18	Feeling fearful	0.19 (0.53)	.63	.81
Global Severity Index (α = .93)		∑4.66 (7.44)			.71**	.73**

ISSN: 1471-2288