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The Factor Structure of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30)

A Reliability Study on 6317 Community Residents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Felicia A. Huppert ,
D. E. Walters ,
N. Day  and
B. Jane Elliott
Felicia A. Huppert*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
D. E. Walters
Affiliation:
Churchill College, Cambridge
N. Day
Affiliation:
MRC Biostatistics Unit
B. Jane Elliott
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
*
∗Level 4, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QQ
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Abstract

An individual's responses to Goldberg's 30-item General Health Questionnaire are usually represented as a single score which provides a measure of the number of psychiatric symptoms reported. No account is taken of the nature of the symptoms. Factor analyses of the GHQ-30 were undertaken in ten randomly selected samples of 600 adults each, and also on 12 age-sex groupings covering the age range 18–98. The results indicate an impressive degree of consistency of the factor structure, and the identification of five distinct factors corresponding to anxiety, feelings of incompetence, depression, difficulty in coping, and social dysfunction.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 155 , Issue 2 , August 1989 , pp. 178 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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