Premium
A confirmatory factor analysis of the 12‐item General Health Questionnaire among older people
Author(s) -
Bun Cheung Yin
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.693
Subject(s) - general health questionnaire , psychology , confirmatory factor analysis , exploratory factor analysis , marital status , internal consistency , anxiety , psychometrics , population , clinical psychology , mental health , depression (economics) , correlation , gerontology , demography , psychiatry , structural equation modeling , medicine , statistics , mathematics , geometry , sociology , economics , macroeconomics
Background The 12‐item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) is useful in measuring psychiatric morbidity in older people. Previous studies of its factor structure were often based on samples of young persons and on exploratory factor analysis techniques. The results varied from suggesting one to three factors. Methods This study involved 2123 participants aged over 60 and 7490 younger adults in a population‐based survey in Britain. It compared the relative plausibility of several factor structures proposed by previous researchers, as indicated by the Akaike's Information Criterion and the Non‐Normed Fit Index. Correlation between factors and internal consistency were examined. Mean subscale scores by demographic characteristics were analysed by ANOVA for the best‐fit model. Results The 3‐factor structure proposed by Graetz gave the best fit in both older and younger people. The properties of this model in older people were examined in details. The patterns of internal consistency and between‐factor correlation were found satisfactory. Differences and similarities in subscale scores between demographic groups e.g. marital status, were presented. Conclusion The 12‐item General Health Questionnaire may measure three aspects of mental health, namely Anxiety and Depression, Social Dysfunction, and Loss of Confidence. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.