Measurement of Mental Health in a General Population Survey

Berkman, P. L. (Dept. of Public Health, Berkeley, Calif. 94704). Measurement of mental health in a general population survey. Amer J Epidem 94: 105–111, 1971.—This article describes an eight-item Index of Psychological Well-Being used to measure mental health in a general population mail-questionnaire survey, and reports on the respective relations between this Index and a variety of demographic variables, including physical health. The Index was found associated, in generally expected directions, with income adequacy, and with sex, ethnic origin, marital status, employment status, education, and occupation, even when adjusting for income differences within these variables. The Index is also positively associated with physical health status, generally regardless of sex, age, or adequacy of household income. Age, however, was found related to psychological well-being in a curvilinear pattern, with the young and the very old both scoring worse on the Index than the intermediate age groups.