Revisiting the Factor Structure of the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF): Evidence for a General Wellbeing Factor?

The Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) scale is widely used to assess individuals’ Subjective (SWB), Psychological (PWB) and Social (SoWB) Wellbeing. The items appear to have excellent face validity and better model fit is generally reported for a correlated three-factor model or a Bi-Factor model with a g factor and three s factors that reflect three wellbeing domains. However, item-level misspecification is common, with items either loading poorly on their primary factor or loading comparatively on a non-primary factor. Data from six studies (N = 13166) systematically assessed the factor structure of the MHC-SF. Parallel Analysis supported only 1 factor be extracted. Model fit increased for the more complex models but item misspecification was also reported. Comparative good model fit was reported for the unidimensional when substantive covariance parameters between residuals, consistently identified in all studies, were included in the estimation. In conclusion, the MHC-SF items reflect a general factor of wellbeing. The purported better model fit of the more complex models can be explained by the inclusion of seven covariance paths identified in each study. While the MHC-SF items reflect different wellbeing domains, they should not be used to derive differential scores of SWB, PWB and SoWB.