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Using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess the psychological health of Malaysian college students


Citation

Zulkefly, Nor Sheereen and Baharudin, Rozumah (2010) Using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess the psychological health of Malaysian college students. Global Journal of Health Science, 2 (1). pp. 73-80. ISSN 1916-9736; ESSN: 1916-9744

Abstract

The primary objective of this study was to assess the psychological health of students at a local university in Malaysia using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Additionally, the study was carried out to determine the reliability and factor structure of the GHQ-12. Sample comprised 386 students (female=177, male=209) who were selected using multistage cluster sampling. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data required. Results showed that slightly more than half (52.9%) of the respondents scored low on the GHQ-12, and a substantial proportion (47.1%) of them scored high, indicating an unhealthy psychological state. Nevertheless, no differences were observed between the genders. Reliability analysis showed satisfactory results, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.70. Meanwhile, factor analysis revealed that GHQ-12 was a measure of psychological distress, with a three-factor structure (Psychological Distress, Social and Emotional Dysfunction and Cognitive Disorder), which jointly accounted for 51.9% of the variance. The findings of the study therefore affirm that the GHQ-12 is a good measure for assessing the overall psychological well-being of students in Malaysia.


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Additional Metadata

Item Type: Article
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine and Health Science
Faculty of Human Ecology
DOI Number: https://doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v2n1p73
Publisher: Canadian Center of Science and Education
Keywords: Psychological health; College students; General Health Questionnaire; GHQ-12 factor structure; Malaysia
Depositing User: Nur Farahin Ramli
Date Deposited: 06 Sep 2013 01:28
Last Modified: 26 Nov 2019 02:10
Altmetrics: http://www.altmetric.com/details.php?domain=psasir.upm.edu.my&doi=10.5539/gjhs.v2n1p73
URI: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/24670
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