Reliability, validity and factor structure of the 12‐item General Health Questionnaire among young males in Italy
1994/12/01 by P. L. Politi, Pierluigi Politi, M. Piccinelli +3 · 28 citations
Social Sciences · Health Professions · #Health disparities and outcomes #Obesity and Health Practices #Health, psychology, and well-being
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1994.tb01620.x
Abstract
The internal consistency, validity and factor structure of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) were investigated in a homogeneous sample consisting of 18-year-old males in Italy. The GHQ-12 proved to be a reliable instrument, as indicated by a Cronbach's alpha of 0.81. When the screening characteristics of the GHQ-12 (scored by the Likert method) were evaluated against the psychiatrist's ratings, the best balance between sensitivity and specificity was found at the GHQ cut-off score of 8/9: at this threshold, sensitivity was 0.68 and was paired to a specificity of 0.59 and an overall misclassification rate of 0.40. Validity coefficients based on a single severity score were rather low compared with those reported in other settings. When a principal components analysis with varimax (and oblimin) rotation was performed, two factors were identified: factor A (general dysphoria) was defined by 7 items related to anxiety and depression; factor B (social dysfunction) included 6 items testing the ability to perform daily activities and to cope with everyday problems. The identified factors revealed distinct ability in the discrimination between subjects with and without emotional disturbance according to the psychiatrist's ratings and correlated differently with 3 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory subscales (depression, D; conversion hysteria, Hy; psychasthenia, Pt). Thus, the factor structure of the GHQ-12 might provide useful information along with that offered by a single severity score, and the detection of cases might be improved by examining an individual's profile of scores on different subscales derived from factor analysis.
Cited by
- Establishing norms for mental well‐being in young people (7–19 years) using the General Health Questionnaire‐12
- Job insecurity and mental health among community workers: the mediating role of work-family conflict
- A multivariate spatial model for ordinal survey-based data
- Factor structure and internal consistency of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Subjective Vitality Scale (VS), and the relationship between them: a study from France. [europepmc]
- A Rasch and confirmatory factor analysis of the general health questionnaire (GHQ)--12. [europepmc]
- Family social support, community "social capital" and adolescents' mental health and educational outcomes: a longitudinal study in England. [europepmc]
- INvolvement of breast CAncer patients during oncological consultations: a multicentre randomised controlled trial--the INCA study protocol. [europepmc]
- Short structured general mental health in service training programme in Kenya improves patient health and social outcomes but not detection of mental health problems - a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial. [europepmc]
- Psychometric properties and factor structure of the General Health Questionnaire as a screening tool for anxiety and depressive symptoms in a multi-national study of young adults. [europepmc]
- The factor structure of the 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) in young Chinese civil servants. [europepmc]
- Cross-cultural measurement invariance of the General Health Questionnaire-12 in a German and a Colombian population sample. [europepmc]
- Reliability and validity of general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) for male tannery workers: a study carried out in Kanpur, India. [europepmc]
- Mental Health among Migrants in Shenzhen, China: Does it Matter Whether the Migrant Population is Identified by Hukou or Birthplace? [europepmc]
- Age, Pain Intensity, Values-Discrepancy, and Mindfulness as Predictors for Mental Health and Cognitive Fusion: Hierarchical Regressions With Mediation Analysis. [europepmc]
- The Dimensionality of the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12): Comparisons of Factor Structures and Invariance Across Samples and Time. [europepmc]
- Investigating the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on the Psychological Health of University Students and Their Attitudes Toward Mobile Mental Health Solutions: Two-Part Questionnaire Study. [europepmc]
- Caring Advanced Cancer Patients at Home During COVID-19 Outbreak: Burnout and Psychological Morbidity Among Palliative Care Professionals in Italy. [europepmc]
- The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Healthcare Providers in Obstetrics: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study. [europepmc]
- Quality of Life and Symptoms of PTSD during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy. [europepmc]
- Hospital workers mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: methods of data collection and characteristics of study sample in a university hospital in Milan (Italy). [europepmc]
- Estimating measurement equivalence of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire across ethnic groups in the UK. [europepmc]
- Gender Identity Milestones, Minority Stress and Mental Health in Three Generational Cohorts of Italian Binary and Nonbinary Transgender People. [europepmc]
- Is the Pain Just Physical? The Role of Psychological Distress, Quality of Life, and Autistic Traits in Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, an Internet-Based Survey in Italy. [europepmc]
- Reliability and Validity of General Health Questionnaire-12 in Chinese Dental Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic. [europepmc]
- Attachment style and mental health during the later stages of COVID-19 pandemic: the mediation role of loneliness and COVID-19 anxiety. [europepmc]
- Psychological distress and resilience among italian healthcare workers of geriatric services during the COVID-19 pandemic. [europepmc]
- The association between transient childhood psychotic experiences and psychosocial outcomes in young adulthood: Examining the role of mental disorders and adult attachment. [europepmc]
- The association between higher education attendance and common mental health problems among young people in England: evidence from two population-based cohorts. [europepmc]
Related