Confirmation of the dimensional structure of the scl-90: A study in construct validation

Abstract

The dimensional structure of the SCL-90, a multidimensional self-report symptom inventory, was subjected to a confirmatory empirical test with a sample of 1,002 psychiatric outpatients. A variation of factor analytic method termed a „Procrustes procedure”︁ was utilized to compare the hypothesized nine-dimensional clinical-rational structure with the dimensional structure developed empirically. The hypothetical vs. empirical match was judged to be very good for eight of the nine dimensions, and moderate on the ninth and thereby makes a substantive contribution to the construct validity of the instrument.