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RESEARCH PRODUCT

More on the Dimensionality of the GHQ-12: Competitive Confirmatory Models

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The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was designed to measure minor psychiatric morbidity by assessing normal ‘healthy’ functioning and the appearance of new, distressing symptoms. Among its versions, the 12-item is one of the most used. GHQ-12’s validity and reliability have been extensively tested in samples from different populations. In the Spanish version, studies have come to different conclusions, of one, two, and three-factor structures. This research aims to present additional evidence on the factorial validity of the Spanish version of the GHQ-12, using competitive confirmatory models. Three samples of workers (N= 525, 414 and 540) were used to test a set of substantive models previously found in Spanish and international literature. Results showed that multidimensional models had moderate to substantial inter-factor correlations (ranging from 0.29 to 0.76) but not as high as to jeopardize their discriminant validity. The best-fitting models were the original solution by Graetz (1991) and the exploratory three-factor solution offered by Rocha et al. (2011), multidimensional three-factor solutions with correlated factors. The conclusion is that a multidimensional three-factor structure underlies the items in the GHQ-12.