Table 1 Sample studies on the reliability and factorial analyses of the GHQ-12 across cultures

Studies of three-factor model

Graetz [22]

8,998 of young people aged 16–25 (Australians)

–

Anxiety (items 2,5,6,9), social dysfunction (items 1,3,4,7,8,12), and loss of confidence (items 10,11)

Daradkeh et al. [11]

157 of university students (Al-Ain/United Arab Emirates)

.86

Tension and depression (items 5,6,9,10,11), lack of enjoyment (items 1,2,7,8,12), and social dysfunction (items 3,4,11)

Gao et al. [29]

120 of outpatients with mental health problems (Chinese)

–

3-factor model of Graetz [19]

Sánchez-López and Dresch [23]

1001 subjects aged 25–65 years (Spanish)

.76

Successful coping (items 1,3,4,7,8,12), self-esteem (items 6,9,10,11), stress (items 2,5,9)

El-Metwally et al. [16]

1019 respondents aged 18 and above (Al Kharj/Saudi Arabia)

–

Social dysfunction (items 1,2.3,4,5,6), anxiety (items 7,8,9,10), and loss of confidence (items 11,12)

(Positive items from 1 to 6 and negative items from 7 to 12)

Studies of two-factor model

Montazeri et al. [24]

748 of young people aged 18–25 years (Persian/Iranian)

.87

Psychological distress (items 1, 3,4,7,8,10,11) and social dysfunction (items 2,5,6,7,9,12)

Doi and Minnawa [34]

1808 of general adult population aged 20 years or older (Japanese)

.83–.85

Psychological distress (items 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 11) and social dysfunction (items 1, 3, 4,7 and 8)

Hu et al. [32]

9204 participants, from the first wave of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and 6451 participants of the Health Survey for England (HSE)

–

Mental disorder (negatively worded items) and positive mental functioning (positively worded items)

Rajabi & Sheykhshabani [33]

210 employees of a public organization Aged 25 to 57 years (Iran)

.85

Social dysfunction (positive items) and psychological distress (negative items)

Winzer et al. [14]

23,394 women, 18,274 men, aged 16–29 years (Swedish)

.84

Positive mental health (PMH) and negative mental health (NMH)

Qin et al. [26]

9692 respondents of older adults aged 60 and above

(Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali and Nepali, Odia, Marathi, Malayalam, and Tamil)

.90

Depression (items 1, 8,9,10,11,12) and social dysfunction (items 2,3,4,5,6,7)