Factor analysis of commonly used psychosocial scales in 822 employees identified 13 distinguishable factors, demonstrating that these scales measure distinct psychological concepts.
Cohort (n=822)
Do commonly used psychometric scales for psychosocial risk factors in coronary artery disease measure distinct or overlapping psychological concepts?
Commonly used psychometric scales for psychosocial risk factors in coronary artery disease measure distinct psychological concepts rather than overlapping ones.
There is growing evidence that psychosocial factors contribute to the risk of coronary artery disease. Commonly used psychometric scales share several features leading to questions about whether they reflect distinguishable concepts. Study participants were 822 employees of the Augsburg Cohort Study (mean age 40 years, 89% men). The authors analyzed the interrelationship between the following psychosocial measures by applying Pearson correlations and factor analysis to the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Type D Personality (DS14), the Maastricht Vital Exhaustion Questionnaire (VE), Social Support (F-SozU), the SF12 Health Survey, and Effort-Reward Imbalance. Although the full correlation matrix revealed low to medium associations supporting the notion that the applied psychometric scales show some conceptual overlap, factor analyses resulted in 13 distinguishable and interpretable factors, considerably reflecting the original psychometric scales. This strengthens the assumption that the psychometric scales used constitute distinct psychological concepts, in particular, depressive symptomatology and negative affectivity versus vital exhaustion.
Kudielka et al. (Thu,) conducted a cohort in Psychosocial risk factors for coronary artery disease (n=822). Psychosocial psychometric scales was evaluated on Interrelationship between psychosocial measures via factor analysis. Factor analysis of commonly used psychosocial scales in 822 employees identified 13 distinguishable factors, demonstrating that these scales measure distinct psychological concepts.