title: Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire in adolescents.
abstract: The internal consistency, test-retest reliability and factor structure of the Castilian Spanish version of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were studied with a sample of 1930 Spanish adolescents (M age=15.9 yr., SD=2.1). Cronbach alpha for the whole sample was .85 (.81 for boys, .87 for girls). Test-retest reliability was also satisfactory: r=.75 for boys, .81 for girls, .79 for the whole sample. After applying principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation, two factors were identified that jointly accounted for 46.8% of the total variance, Anxiety and Social Dysfunction. The results suggest that the GHQ-12 items is a questionnaire with some satisfactory psychometric properties.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science Education, University of Vigo, Campus Universitario de Ourense, Avda. de Castelao, s/n. 32004, Ourense, Spain. alopez@uvigo.es
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: López-Castedo
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fernández
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014177:Translations