TY - JOUR
T1 - Measurement Invariance of the General Health Questionnaire GHQ 12-Item Version (GHQ-12)
T2 - A Large UK Longitudinal Study Across Students and Non-Students
AU - Ushakova, Anastasia
AU - McKenzie, Karen
AU - Hughes, Claire
AU - Stoye, Johanna
AU - Murray, Aja
N1 - Funding information: This work was funded by a Student Mental Health Research Network (SMaRteN) research grant.
PY - 2023/8/23
Y1 - 2023/8/23
N2 - Understanding how levels, patterns, predictors, and outcomes of mental health issues differs in students relative to non-students can inform more effective and better tailored prevention and intervention for mental health in higher education contexts. However, comparisons of mental health in student and non-student groups depend on the critical but seldom-tested assumption of measurement invariance. In this study, we use data from the UK household longitudinal study (UKLS) to evaluate the measurement invariance of the scores from a commonly used mental health measure: the General Health Questionnaire 12-item version (GHQ-12) across students and non-students. Using a bifactor model to take account of wording factors we found measurement invariance up to the scalar level for students and non-student groups. This provides support for the use of instruments for comparing mental health issue levels and candidate risk factors and outcomes across students and non-students.
AB - Understanding how levels, patterns, predictors, and outcomes of mental health issues differs in students relative to non-students can inform more effective and better tailored prevention and intervention for mental health in higher education contexts. However, comparisons of mental health in student and non-student groups depend on the critical but seldom-tested assumption of measurement invariance. In this study, we use data from the UK household longitudinal study (UKLS) to evaluate the measurement invariance of the scores from a commonly used mental health measure: the General Health Questionnaire 12-item version (GHQ-12) across students and non-students. Using a bifactor model to take account of wording factors we found measurement invariance up to the scalar level for students and non-student groups. This provides support for the use of instruments for comparing mental health issue levels and candidate risk factors and outcomes across students and non-students.
U2 - 10.1027/1015-5759/a000785
DO - 10.1027/1015-5759/a000785
M3 - Article
JO - European Journal of Psychological Assessment
JF - European Journal of Psychological Assessment
SN - 1015-5759
ER -
