Alexandre Luiz de Oliveira Serpa1, Danielle Souza Costa2, Clarice de Medeiros Chaves Ferreira3, Mayra Isabel C Pinheiro4, Alexandre Paim Diaz5, Jonas Jardim de Paula6, Debora Marques Miranda7, Antônio Geraldo da Silva8, Leandro Fernandes Malloy-Diniz9. 1. Laboratório de Neurociências Cognitiva e Social, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Metacognitiv, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. 2. Laboratório de Neurociências, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. 3. Universidade FUMEC, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. 4. Secretaria de Gestão do Trabalho e da Educação na Saúde (SGTES), Ministério da Saúde, Brasília, DF, Brazil. 5. Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA. 6. Metacognitiv, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Departamento de Psicologia, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. 7. Departamento de Pediatria, Faculdade de Medicina, UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. 8. Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal. 9. Universidade FUMEC, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. Departamento de Saúde Mental, Faculdade de Medicina, UFMG, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The existence of a general factor related to psychiatric symptoms is supported by studies using a variety of methods in both clinical and non-clinical samples. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate the replicability of the internal structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory in a large Brazilian sample. METHODS: Participants were 6,427 Brazilian subjects (81% female). Mean age was 42.1 years (standard deviation [SD] = 13.6, Min = 13, Max = 80). All participants completed the online version of the Brief Symptom Inventory. This scale presents a general score (GSI) and nine specific clusters of symptoms (depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, interpersonal sensibility, psychoticism, paranoid ideation, obsessive-compulsive behavior, hostility, and somatization symptoms). RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess the factor structure of the BSI. The results showed that the best-fitting model was a bifactor solution and the general factor was the main dimension explaining most of the reliable variability in the data. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the BSI's internal structure was replicated in a non-clinical sample and that the general factor is the most reliable score. However, it is necessary to better understand the meaning of the general factor scores in a non-clinical sample to increase interpretability of scores.
INTRODUCTION: The existence of a general factor related to psychiatric symptoms is supported by studies using a variety of methods in both clinical and non-clinical samples. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate the replicability of the internal structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory in a large Brazilian sample. METHODS: Participants were 6,427 Brazilian subjects (81% female). Mean age was 42.1 years (standard deviation [SD] = 13.6, Min = 13, Max = 80). All participants completed the online version of the Brief Symptom Inventory. This scale presents a general score (GSI) and nine specific clusters of symptoms (depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, interpersonal sensibility, psychoticism, paranoid ideation, obsessive-compulsive behavior, hostility, and somatization symptoms). RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess the factor structure of the BSI. The results showed that the best-fitting model was a bifactor solution and the general factor was the main dimension explaining most of the reliable variability in the data. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the BSI's internal structure was replicated in a non-clinical sample and that the general factor is the most reliable score. However, it is necessary to better understand the meaning of the general factor scores in a non-clinical sample to increase interpretability of scores.
Entities:
Keywords:
Psychological factors; mental disorders; psychometrics; reproducibility of results
Authors: Jonas Jardim de Paula; Danielle Souza Costa; Alexandre Luiz de Oliveira Serpa; Antonio Geraldo Silva; Mayra Isabel C Pinheiro; Leandro Fernandes Malloy-Diniz; Debora Marques de Miranda Journal: Clin Neuropsychiatry Date: 2021-06
Authors: Alexandre Luiz de Oliveira Serpa; André Luiz Braule Pinto; Alexandre Paim Diaz; Marco Aurélio Romano-Silva; Danielle de Souza Costa; Rui M Joaquim; Jonas Jardim de Paula; Rafaela Guatimosim; Antônio Geraldo da Silva; Débora Marques de Miranda; Leandro F Malloy-Diniz Journal: Braz J Psychiatry Date: 2022-08-22