Symptom scales of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule: Factor results in Hispanic and Anglo samples.

The Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) was designed for use in large-sample surveys of mental health to produce categorical diagnoses according to criteria such as those found in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, based on structured information about lifetime symptoms provided to nonclinician interviewers. Using symptom data from a probability sample of community residents in Puerto Rico who ranged in age from 18 to 64 (N=1,513), we examined five clusters of items (those associated with diagnoses of affective disorders, schizophrenia, phobic disorder, somatization disorder, and alcoholism) and formed quantitative measures of psychopathology from each. We checked the factor structure of these five scales in two probability samples obtained in Los Angeles, one composed of Mexican-Americans (N=1,113) and one of Anglo-Americans (N=975). Both Los Angeles samples were restricted to persons aged 18 to 64 for these analyses