The factorial structure of the GHQ‐12

Abstract

This paper studies the factorial structure of the 12‐item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ‐12), Dutch translation, in a large Belgian sample (n = 9442) that is representative of the general population. Data was collected from the 2001 Belgian Health Interview Survey. In total, 11 factor‐structure models are tested by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Two models, a two‐factorial model without cross‐loadings and a three‐factorial model with cross‐loadings, prove to have acceptable model‐fit. Given parsimony and the uni‐dimensionality of the subscales, the authors prefer the two‐factorial model over the three‐factorial one. In a next step, it is examined whether a general, second‐order factor can be seen underlying both the two‐ and three‐factorial models. This, however, was only true for the three‐factorial model. Based on correlations with other scales (the revised Symptom Checklist 90, SCL‐90‐R; the MOS Social Support Survey, MOS‐SSS) and a variable on social contacts, the authors suggest that the ‘social dysfunction’ subscale be renamed ‘dysfunction’. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Factorial structure of the Chinese version of the 12‐item General Health Questionnaire in adolescents

“…Amongst all factor models being evaluated, the unitary (single factor) model was found to be the poorest fit to the data. These findings are consistent with previous studies suggesting that the GHQ-12 is a multi-dimensional scale that measures several distinct aspects of distress, rather than unidimensional measure of a general construct (Vanheule & Bogaerts 2005, Ip & Martin 2006.…”

“…Most importantly, the factor structure of GHQ-12 examined by previous studies was inconsistent (Vanheule & Bogaerts 2005, Ip & Martin 2006. 11 factors structure models were evaluated by means of confirmatory factor analysis based on data in a large Belgian sample, Vanheule and Bogaerts (2005) revealed that the two-factorial model (eight-item) developed by Kalliath et al (2004) is the best fitting model.…”

“…Most importantly, the factor structure of GHQ-12 examined by previous studies was inconsistent (Vanheule & Bogaerts 2005, Ip & Martin 2006. 11 factors structure models were evaluated by means of confirmatory factor analysis based on data in a large Belgian sample, Vanheule and Bogaerts (2005) revealed that the two-factorial model (eight-item) developed by Kalliath et al (2004) is the best fitting model. However, in a similar study using Chinese women at their third trimester of pregnancy as the study population, Ip and Martin (2006) found that the best-fit to the data in their study to be the three-factor model (12-item) of Worsely and Gribbin (1977).…”

Does job satisfaction mediate the relationship between work–family conflict and psychological strain? A study of Australian social workers

“…The GHQ-12 is a widely used measure of psychological strain that has consistently reported high levels of internal reliability in previous studies (Ip & Martin, 2006;Vanheule & Bogaerts, 2005). Kalliath et al (2004) conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the GHQ-12 and found that a two-factor model provided the strongest fit with data.…”

Cross‐cultural measurement invariance of the General Health Questionnaire‐12 in a German and a Colombian population sample

“…Psychometric properties and especially dimensionality of the GHQ‐12 are still under debate. Although the GHQ‐12 was originally designed as a unidimensional measure, several one‐, two‐ or three‐factor solutions have been found across different studies (Werneke et al, ; Rey et al, ; Gureje, ; Kalliath, O'Driscoll, & Brough, ; Picardi, Abeni, & Pasquini, ; Politi, Piccinelli, & Wilkinson, ; Schmitz, Kruse, & Tress, ; Toyabe et al, ; Vanheule & Bogaerts, ; Hankins, ; Romppel, Braehler, Roth, & Glaesmer, ). The impact of methodological aspects on the factorial structure of the GHQ‐12 has been discussed in recent years (Rey et al, ; Hankins, ; Romppel et al, ).…”