Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the SCL-90-R: A study on a large community sample
- 21 February 2011
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in European Psychiatry
- Vol. 27 (8), 591-597
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2010.12.006
Abstract
We present the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Italian version of the SCL-90-R based on a large sample of the Italian population. The sample (N = 3631) included high-school and university students and adults from the community (age range=13–70 yrs; 39.2% males). Principal component analysis (PCA) supported by parallel analysis, yielded eight components, partially overlapping those in the original version; no evidence of Psychoticism and Paranoid Ideation as separate subscales emerged. Twenty-one items were consecutively deleted, leading to a 69-item version of the scale. Internal coherence was good for all subscales (α values between 0.70 and 0.96). However, the eight-factor solution did not prove consistent when analyses were replicated after dividing the sample in subgroups according to gender and age. A second-order PCA yielded a single factor, supporting the adoption of the GSI as an index of general distress. A 69-item brief version of the scale has been empirically derived in this study, and can possibly be adopted as a screening measure for general distress in Italian adults and adolescents; however, caution should be exercised when interpreting the clinical profile due to the instability of factor structure.Keywords
This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dimensional characteristics of the SCL-90-R: Evaluation of gender differences in dually diagnosed inpatientsJournal of Clinical Psychology, 1995
- Unidimensionality of SCL-90-R scales in adult and adolescent crisis samplesJournal of Clinical Psychology, 1993
- An Examination of the Factor Structure and Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the SCL-90R in an Outpatient Clinic PopulationJournal of Personality Assessment, 1988
- The role of factor analysis in the development and evaluation of personality scalesJournal of Personality, 1986
- Factor Structure of the SCL-90-R: Is There One?Journal of Personality Assessment, 1985
- Factor Comparability As A Means Of Determining The Number Of Factors And Their RotationMultivariate Behavioral Research, 1983
- Confirmation of the dimensional structure of the scl-90: A study in construct validationJournal of Clinical Psychology, 1977
- The Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL): A self-report symptom inventoryBehavioral Science, 1974
- The Scree Test For The Number Of FactorsMultivariate Behavioral Research, 1966
- The Importance of Factor-Trueness and Validity, Versus Homogeneity and Orthogonality, in Test Scales1Educational and Psychological Measurement, 1964