Dimensions of Subjective Mental Health in American Men and Women

Abstract

Confirmatory factor analyses were used to map dimensions of subjective mental health underlying 25 indexes of well-being and distress assessed in a 1976 national representative survey of adults. Partially confirming hypotheses, six dominant factors (Unhappiness, Lack of Gratification, Strain, Feelings of Vulnerability, Lack of Self-Confidence, and Uncertainty) emergedfor both men and women. Comparative analyses revealed that the six-factor model derived for men fit the data of both sexes, equally well. Thus, this model provides a means of assessing men's and women's self-evaluations comparably. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated the divergent validity of the dimensions in the model by differentially relating certain demographic and behavioral measures to the various factors. Four critical theoretical issues were discussed as underlying measures of subjective mental health: affective orientation (positive vs. negative), object offocus (world vs. self), time referent (past vs. present vs. future), and mode of reaction (spontaneous vs. reflective).