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Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) in Iranian adolescents

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Abstract

The current study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF), a measure of well-being, in Iranian adolescents. The MHC-SF was administrated to two samples, each consisting of 400 Iranian 15-year-olds recruited using multistage random cluster sampling (N1 = 400, N2 = 400, total N = 800). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, Cronbach's alpha, McDonald’s Omega test–retest reliability, divergent and convergent validity were used to evaluate the scale. Three components of the MHC-SF (emotional, psychological and social well-being) were identified in sample 1 and then replicated in sample 2. Analyses of sample 2 revealed that the test–retest correlations after 30 days were high, Cronbach’s alpha (α = .88) and McDonald’s Omega (ω = . 84) were high, and that the components correlated highly with subjective well-being. Additional analyses of sample 2 indicated that the MHC-SF demonstrated convergent validity as it significantly positively correlated with the students' GPA, mathematics and science scores, resilience, psychological flexibility and mindfulness. The MHC-SF displayed divergent validity as it significantly negatively correlated with academic burnout, depression, anxiety, stress and psychiatric conditions. No significant gender differences or testing order effects were observed. The MHC-SF is a valid and reliable measure of well-being, and is suitable for use with Iranian adolescents. Future research is required to identify whether, and under what conditions, the three subscale scores are more suitable than the total score.

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Data availability

Data not available due to legal restrictions. The Ministry of Education did not agree for the students’ data to be shared publicly, so supporting data are not available. Data are however available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and with permission of Ministry of Education.A blank consent form is available in the supplementary.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education, N07, Row B 1, Station 6, Abadan, Khuzestan, Iran

    Morteza Khazaei

  2. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, Canada

    Mark D. Holder

  3. Reader in Social and Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Fuschia M. Sirois

  4. Centre for Positive Psychology, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Lindsay G. Oades

  5. Department of Psychology, Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Matthew W. Gallagher

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  1. Morteza Khazaei
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  2. Mark D. Holder
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Correspondence to Morteza Khazaei.

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Ethics approval numbers are only issued to Iranian university professors so no number was assigned to this project. Authors followed the guidelines for ethics prescribed by the American Psychological Association for working with human participants and the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and its later amendments and written informed consent form received from all parents of subjects before the study.

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Written informed consent of participation and publication was obtained from all parents of participants involved in the study and a blank sample of the consent form is available in the supplementary as “online recourse 4”.

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Khazaei, M., Holder, M.D., Sirois, F.M. et al. Evaluating the psychometric properties of the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) in Iranian adolescents. Curr Psychol 42, 17995–18009 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02970-x

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