Nervous and mental disease some dimensions of psychoneurotic behavior in an urban sample

As a first step in a series of research strategies aimed at concept clarification of psychoneurotic symptoms in epidemiological field surveys, a factor analysis of a self-report questionnaire on physical and psychological status was carried out. The sample involved 531 adults from selected census tracts in New York City. There were 237 males and 294 females in the sample. The sample was further characterized in terms of selected demographic and socioeconomic variables. The purposes of the present study were to 1) establish the dimensionality of certain psychoneurotic behavior, 2) demonstrate the relationships of the dimensions with reference to demographic and sociocultural variables, and 3) propose further research as an aid in clarifying some of the issues of psychiatric disorder classification in field surveys. The present paper deals with the factor analysis and scaling of the dimension of psychological symptoms. Five factors were found. These factors are interpreted in light of other studies in clinical settings and in relationship to theories about anxiety and depression. Age/sex curves for the five factor patterns are presented. In conclusion, a series of further research strategies for this data base is offered.