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A Questionnaire Measure of Neuroticism using a Shortened Scale Derived from the Cornell Medical Index
Author(s) -
Gibson H. B.,
Hanson Ruth,
West D. J.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1967.tb00510.x
Subject(s) - neuroticism , psychology , scale (ratio) , clinical psychology , index (typography) , sample (material) , psychiatry , personality , social psychology , computer science , chemistry , physics , chromatography , quantum mechanics , world wide web
Pilot work was conducted involving a review of the Cornell Medical Index (C.M.I.) as an instrument diagnostic of psychiatric and physical ill‐health, and making a selection from it on the basis of data obtained from two previous studies. An essential feature of this selection was to avoid items which referred directly to neurotically disturbed behaviour. The items provisionally selected were administered as a questionnaire for mothers, first to a new pilot sample, and then to an experimental group about whom personal data had been established by interview and the occasional checking of records. The results were analysed by the method of principal components, and a new scale established. Scores of the mothers on this scale were validated against what was known of their psychiatric and physical health. The results suggest that the new Health Questionnaire is a useful instrument for the assessment of neuroticism in a situation in which the direct mention of the topic of neurotic disturbance would perhaps be unwise.