Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Rd, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310027, China.
Department of Social Work, California State University Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Hwy, Bakersfield, California, 93311, USA.
Brain Behav. 2021 Dec;11(12):e2417. doi: 10.1002/brb3.2417. Epub 2021 Nov 13.
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) is a 10-item screening tool designed for nonspecific psychological distress. The current study aims to identify a best-fitting factor structure of the K10, and to test its cross-gender measurement invariance based on the structure.
Using convenience sampling, we included 339 (n = 192 for boys and 135 for girls) children of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers in Hangzhou, China.
Confirmatory factor analysis for ordered-categorical measures revealed a two-factor structure as the best-fitting model, in which five items (hopeless, depressed, effort, severely depressed, and worthless) loaded on depression and the other five items loaded on anxiety (tired, nervous, severely nervous, restless, and severely restless). The model held at different levels of the measurement invariance testing, that is, full measurement invariance was not rejected in our sample, suggesting that gender differences as assessed with K10 reflect true differences. Structural invariance testing showed that girls in our sample showed significantly higher levels of depression and anxiety than boys.
These findings support that the K10 is suitable for gender-comparative research among children of Chinese migrant workers. Using the K10 as a screening tool among this population should be promoted. Limitations and directions for future research were discussed.
凯斯勒心理困扰量表（K10）是一种 10 项筛查工具，旨在用于非特定的心理困扰。本研究旨在确定 K10 的最佳拟合因子结构，并基于该结构测试其跨性别测量不变性。
使用便利抽样，我们纳入了 339 名（n=192 名男孩和 135 名女孩）中国农村到城市的农民工子女。
有序分类测量的验证性因子分析显示，双因素结构是最佳拟合模型，其中五个项目（绝望、抑郁、努力、严重抑郁和无价值）归为抑郁，另外五个项目归为焦虑（疲倦、紧张、严重紧张、不安和严重不安）。该模型在测量不变性测试的不同水平上成立，即在我们的样本中，未拒绝完全测量不变性，这表明 K10 评估的性别差异反映了真实差异。结构不变性测试表明，我们样本中的女孩在抑郁和焦虑方面的得分显著高于男孩。
这些发现支持 K10 适合于中国农民工子女的性别比较研究。应该推广使用 K10 作为该人群的筛查工具。讨论了局限性和未来研究方向。
