Psychometric analysis of the brief symptom inventory 18 (BSI-18) in a representative German sample

BackgroundThe BSI-18 contains the three six-item scales somatization, depression, and anxiety as well as the Global Severity Index (GSI), including all 18 items. The BSI-18 is the latest and shortest of the multidimensional versions of the Symptom-Checklist 90-R, but its psychometric properties have not been sufficiently clarified yet.MethodsBased on a representative sample of N = 2516 participants (aged 14–94 years), detailed psychometric analyses were carried out.ResultsThe internal consistency was good: Somatization α = .82, Depression α = .87, Anxiety α = .84 and GSI α = .93. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three scales as second-order and GSI as first-order factors. The model fit based on RMSEA is good but that model fit based on CFI and TLI are too low.ConclusionsTherefore, it is a very short, reliable instrument for the assessment of psychological distress. The BSI-18 can be used to reliably assess psychological distress in the general population. However, further studies need to evaluate the usefulness of standardization in clinical samples.

• Publication year

  2017

• Venue

  BMC Medical Research Methodology

• Publication date

  2017-01-26

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1186/s12874-016-0283-3PMID 28125960PMCID 5270206
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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