title: The Cohen-Hoberman inventory of physical symptoms: Factor structure, and preliminary tests of reliability and validity in the general population.
abstract: The present study aimed to investigate the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Cohen-Hoberman inventory of physical symptoms (CHIPS). Construct and discriminant validity were examined by assessing associations between factors and subjective health complaints (SHC) inventory subscales in addition to measures of pain sensitivity, perceived stress and psychological distress.
  
  
  
  A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 535 healthy individuals from the general population (80.6% female, mean age = 29.80).
  
  
  
  Participants completed CHIPS, SHC, perceived stress scale, pain sensitivity questionnaire, and hospital anxiety and depression scale.
  
  
  
  Principal components analysis demonstrated that CHIPS comprised 8 'symptoms' factors as follows; 'sympathetic/cardiac' (7 items; α = .827), 'muscular' (6 items; α = .752), 'metabolic' (5 items; α = .736), 'gastrointestinal' (5 items; α = .714), 'vasovagal' (4 items; α = .743), 'cold/flu' (2 items; α = .837), 'headache' (2 items; α = .690) and 'minor haemorrhagic' (2 items; α = .309). Significant correlations were observed between factors and SHC subscales (moderate-high), pain sensitivity (negligible-low) and levels of perceived stress and anxiety (low-moderate) indicating good construct, and discriminant validity, respectively.
  
  
  
  CHIPS is a multidimensional and internally consistent measurement of physical symptoms. The postulated factor structure may be used for research purposes particularly in health psychology, to consistently differentiate between clusters of self-reported symptoms.
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology , Northumbria University , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK.
authors.forename: Sarah F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology , Northumbria University , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Wetherell
authors.affiliation: a Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Psychology , Northumbria University , Newcastle upon Tyne , UK.|b Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences , University of Western Australia , Perth , Australia.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: distress; factor structure; physical symptoms; subjective health