Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T03:50:02.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The General Health Questionnaire: a psychometric analysis using latent trait theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

David Andrich  and
Lesley Van Schoubroeck
David Andrich*
Affiliation:
School of Education, Murdoch University; Ministry of Education, Western Australia, Australia
Lesley Van Schoubroeck
Affiliation:
School of Education, Murdoch University; Ministry of Education, Western Australia, Australia
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor David Andrich, School of Education, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

This study examines the Likert-style successive integer scoring of Goldberg's (1972, 1978) General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) with a psychometric model in which the thresholds between successive categories within each item can be estimated. The model is particularly appropriate because the scoring of the successive categories, which are not named in the same way across items, by successive integers has received substantial discussion in the literature. Results from 1967 teachers in Western Australia who completed the 30-item form of the GHQ show that the items conform reasonably well to the model at a general or macro-level of analysis. In particular, the original ordering of categories is supported. However, as expected, there are systematic differences between distances among threshold within items and systematic differences among thresholds between items. The differences between positively and negatively orientated items confirm a suggestion in the literature that these two classes of items form sufficiently different scales so that they could be treated as separate, though reasonably correlated, scales.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , May 1989 , pp. 469 - 485
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, E. B. (1977). Sufficient statistics and latent trait models. Psychometrika 42, 69–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrich, D. (1978 a). Application of a psychometric rating model to ordered response categories which are scored with successive integers. Applied Psychological Measurement 2, 581–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrich, D. (1978 b). A rating formulation for ordered response categories. Psychometrika 43, 357–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrich, D. (1979). A model for contingency tables having an ordered response classification. Biometrics 35, 403–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrich, D. (1982 a). An extension of the Rasch model for ratings providing both location and dispersion parameter. Psychometrika 49, 105–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrich, D. (1982 b). Using latent trait measurement models to analyse attitudinal data: A synthesis of viewpoints.In Proceedings of the 1980 Invitational Conference for the Improvement of Testing. Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ed. Spearritt, D.), pp. 89–126. A.C.E.R.: Melbourne.Google Scholar
Andrich, D. (1985). An elaboration of Gultman scales in Rasch models for measurement. In Sociological Methodology 1985 (ed. Brandon-Tuma, N.), pp. 33–80. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco.Google Scholar
Bartholomew, D. J. (1987). Latent Variable Models and Factor Analysis Charles Griffin/Oxford University Press New York.Google Scholar
Bech, P. (1981). Rating Scales for affective disorders: their validity and consistency. Acta Psychialrica Scandinavica, Supplement 295.Google Scholar
Bock, R. D. (1975). Multivariate Statistical Methods in Behavioral Research. McGraw-Hill: New York.Google Scholar
Chan, D. W (1985). The Chinese version of the General Health Questionnaire: does language make a difference? Psychological Medicine 15, 147–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1950). Further evidence on response sets and test design. Educational and Psychological Measurement 10, 3–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika 16, 297–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, O. D. (1985). Notes on Social Measurement. Russell Sage Foundation New York Google Scholar
Duncan-Jones, P., Grayson, D. A. & Moran, P. A. P. (1986). The utility of latent trait models in psychiatric epidemiology. Psychological Medicine 16, 391–405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fontanesi, F., Gobetti, C., Zimmermen-Tansella, C. H. & Tansella, T. (1985). Validation of the Italian version of the GHQ in a general practice setting. Psychological Medicine 15, 411–415 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1972). The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. Maudsley Monograph No. 21. Oxford University Press London.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1978). Manual of the General Health Questionnaire. National Foundation for Educational Research: Windsor.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P, Bridges, K., Duncan-Jones, P & Grayson, D. (1987). Dimensions of neuroses seen in primary-care settings. Psychological Medicine 17, 461–470.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodchild, M. E. & Duncan-Jones, P. (1985). Chronicity and the GHQ. British Journal of Psychiatry 146, 55–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grayson, D. A., Bridges, K., Duncan-Jones, P. & Goldberg, D. P. (1987). The relationship between symptoms and diagnoses of minor psychiatric disorder in general practice. Psychological Medicine 17, 933–942.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lord, F. M. & Novick, M R. (1968). Statistical Theories of Mental Test Scores. Addison-Wesley: Reading, Mass.Google Scholar
Loevinger, J. (1965) Person and population as psychometric concepts. Psychological Review 72, 143–155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mari, J. J & Williams, P. (1985) A comparison of the validity of two psychiatric screening questionnaires (GHQ-12 and SRQ-20) in Brazil, using Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. Psychological Medicine 15, 651–659.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masters, G N. (1982). A Rasch model for partial credit scoring. Psychometrika 17, 149–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rasch, G. (1960/1980). Probabilistic Models for some Intelligence and Attainment Tests. Danish Institute for Educational Research Copenhagen. (Reprinted, with a foreword and afterword by B. D. Wright, by University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1980).Google Scholar
Rasch, G. (1961). On general laws and the meaning of measurement in psychology.In Proceedings of the Fourth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability (ed. Neyman, J.), pp. 321–334. University of California Press: Berkeley.Google Scholar
Samejima, F (1969). Estimation of latent ability using a response pattern of graded scores. Psychometrika Monograph supplement No. 17, 1969.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schnesheim, C. A. & Hill, K. D. (1981) Item reversals: the effect on questionnaire validity. Educational and Psychological Measurement 41, 1101–1114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Schoubroeck, L. (1986). The General Health Questionnaire, a psychometric analysis. Unpublished dissertation, University of Western Australia, Nedlands Google Scholar
Wright, B. D. (1968) Sample-free test calibration and person measurement.In Proceedings of the 1967 Invitational Conference on Testing Problems, pp. 85–101. Educational Testing Service Princeton, NJ.Google Scholar
Wright, B. D. & Douglas, G. A. (1977). Conditional versus unconditional procedures for sample-free item analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement 37, 47–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, B. D. & Masters, G. N. (1982). Rating Scale Analysis. MESA Press: Chicago.Google Scholar