Psychometric evaluation of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) in Chinese adolescents – a methodological study

Abstract

BackgroundIn epidemiological surveillance of mental health there is good reason to also include scales that measure the presence of well-being rather than merely symptoms of ill health. The Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) is a self-reported scale to measure emotional, psychological and social well-being and conduct categorical diagnosis of positive mental health. This particular instrument includes the three core components of the World Health Organization’s definition of mental health and had previously not been psychometrically evaluated on adolescents in China.MethodsIn total 5,399 students (51.1 % female) from schools in the urban areas of Weifang in China were included in the study (mean age = 15.13, SD = 1.56). Participants completed a comprehensive questionnaire with several scales, among them the MHC-SF. Statistical analyses to evaluate reliability, structural validity, measurement invariance, presence of floor and ceiling effects and to some extent external validity of the MHC-SF were carried out.ResultsThe Cronbach’s α coefficients for sub-scales as well as the total scale were all above 0.80 indicating good reliability. Confirmative factor analysis confirmed the three-dimensional structure of the Chinese version of MHC-SF and supported the configural and metric invariance across gender and age. Noteworthy ceiling effects were observed for single items and sub-scales although not for the total scale. More importantly, observed floor effects were negligible. The stronger correlation found between MHC-SF and Minneapolis-Manchester Quality of Life Instrument (as measure of positive mental health) than between MHC-SF and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (as measure of mental illness and distress) yielded support for external validity.ConclusionIn conclusion, the main findings of this study are in line with studies from other countries that evaluated the psychometric properties of the MHC-SF and show that this instrument, that includes the three core components of the WHO definition of mental health, is useful in assessing positive adolescent mental health also in China.

Well‐being in Patients with Affective Disorders Compared to Nonclinical Participants: A Multi‐Model Evaluation of the Mental Health Continuum‐Short Form

“…Several studies have examined the measurement invariance of various MHC‐SF structural representations in nonclinical samples across gender, age groups and diverse cultural contexts (e.g. Guo et al, ; Joshanloo, ; Joshanloo et al, ; Lamborn et al, ; Lamers, Glas, et al, ; Rogoza et al, ; Schutte & Wissing, ; Zemojtel‐Piotrowska et al, ). In the current study, measurement invariance was for the first time investigated across both gender and clinical/nonclinical groups in a mixed sample.…”

“…Despite the well‐documented association between psychopathology, especially affective disorders, and well‐being, as assessed with the MHC‐SF, its psychometric properties have been primarily evaluated in general population samples or national epidemiological surveys. In particular, the MHC‐SF has been translated and validated in various countries and cultural contexts (Zemojtel‐Piotrowska et al, ), including Argentina (Lupano Perugini, de la Iglesia, Castro Solano, & Keyes, ), Australia (Hides et al, ), Brazil (Machado & Bandeira, ), Canada (Dore, O'Loughlin, Sabiston, & Fournier, ; Orpana, Vachon, Dykxhoorn, & Jayaraman, ), Chile (Echeverria et al, ), China (Guo et al, ), France (Ismaïl & Salama‐Younes, ), Iran (Joshanloo, ; Joshanloo, Wissing, Khumalo, & Lamers, ), Italy (Joshanloo, Capone, Petrillo, & Caso, ; Petrillo, Capone, Caso, & Keyes, ), the Netherlands (Joshanloo et al, ; Lamers, Westerhof, Bohlmeijer, ten Klooster, & Keyes, ), New Zealand (Joshanloo, Jose, & Kielpikowski, ), Poland (Karas, Cieciuch, & Keyes, ), Portugal (de Carvalho, Pereira, Pinto, & Marôco, ), Serbia (Joshanloo & Jovanovic, ; Jovanovic, ), South Africa (Joshanloo et al, ; Keyes et al, ), South Korea (Lim, ), United States (Joshanloo, ) and Vietnam (Rogoza, Truong Thi, Rozycka‐Tran, Piotrowski, & Zemojtel‐Piotrowska, ), providing an ample body of evidence in support of Keyes's model of well‐being. Although all of these studies were performed in nonclinical samples, they often included several mental illness measures to investigate the discriminant validity of the MHC‐SF.…”

“…Furthermore, the MHC-SF has demonstrated adequate convergent/discriminant validity in nonclinical samples of adolescents (Bower, 2017;Guo et al, 2015;Keyes, 2006) and adults (Dore et al, 2017;Hides et al, 2016;Joshanloo, Capone, et al, 2017;Karas et al, 2014;Keyes & Grzywacz, 2005;Keyes et al, 2008;Lamers et al, 2011;Lupano Perugini et al, 2017;Machado & Bandeira, 2015;Orpana et al, 2017;Petrillo et al, 2015). In the current study, the EWB subscale had across samples significant partial correlations with hedonic well-being validators (i.e., positive with positive affect and life satisfaction; negative with negative affect) and current mood state (i.e., negative with clinical global and depression severity or general mental health difficulties), confirming its convergent validity.…”

Health, well‐being, and psychopathology in a clinical population: Structure and discriminant validity of Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC‐SF)

“…Furthermore, moderate correlations have been found between well‐being and risk of illness (Lamers et al., ; Wahlbeck, ). The two continua model also seems robust to cultural variation (Guo et al., ; Karaś, Cieciuch, & Keyes, ; Keyes et al., ; Lamers, Westerhof, Bohlmeijer, ten Klooster, & Keyes, ). Till now, no studies have been available on the distinction between psychopathology and well‐being in a population with clinically significant psychopathology.…”

Positive Mental Health Three Years After East Azerbaijan Earthquake: A Comparative Study

“…The validity and reliability of the tools had been approved in the previous studies in Iran and other countries [10][11][12]. Its validity and reliability were approved in this study too, as its Cronbach α was 0.91.…”