The factor structure of the GHQ-60 in a community sample

Abstract

SynopsisThe factor structure of the 60-item version of the General Health Questionnaire was explored, using data collected in a community study in a rural area of northern Spain. Six principal components, similar to those previously reported with this instrument, were found to provide a good description of the data structure.The 30-item and 12-item versions of the GHQ were then disembedded from the parent version, and further principal components analyses carried out. Again, the results were similar to previous studies: in each of the three versions analysed here, the two most important components represented a disturbance of mood (‘general dysphoria’)– including aspects of anxiety, depression and irritability– and a disturbance of social performance (‘social function/optimism’).The principal component structure of the GHQ-60 was then utilized to calculate factor scores, and these were compared with PSE ratings using Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. While four of the six factors discriminated well (area under the ROC curve 0–75 or more) between PSE ‘cases’ and ‘non-cases’, only one, depressive thoughts, was a good discriminator between depressed and non-depressed PSE ‘cases’.