Psychiatric symptom dimensions in the Cornell Medical Index among normal adult males.

Factor analysis of items from the psychiatric portion of the Cornell Medical Index (CMI) was performed to determine the empirical symptom dimensions in a sample of 1682 normal adult males. Six factors were extracted and interpreted as Irritability, Inability to Cope, Depression, Timidity, Normal Anxiety, and Clinical Anxiety. The factors showed some correspondence to the clinical groupings in the CMI and to factors discovered in other studies. Whiel all showed small positive correlations with a measure of Neuroticism, the consistency of these results argues against the hypothesis that the CMI M-R sections measure only a urinary factor of neurotic complaining. Some modifications in the CMI are recommended that could emhance its utility as a diagnostic or personality instrument.