Objective

Given the evidence missing from validity studies that replicate the internal structure of the Mental Health Inventory - 5 (MHI-5) in Peruvian adolescents, this study performs a preliminary evaluation of the psychometric properties of MHI-5, specifically its internal structure.

Methods

The sample was 75 students of both sexes from a private high school-level educational institution, in the Casma city (Lima, Peru). The analysis was performed by applying a confirmatory factor analysis approach within the modeling of structural equations.

Results

A single significant dimension was found to be viable for interpreting the scores, but the fit was substantially improved when a factor was introduced that represented the effect of two item negative phrasing. On the other hand, the internal consistency was greater than .70, and it is considered satisfactory given its brevity.

Conclusions

It is concluded that the MHI-5 maintains the essential one-dimensionality, but it is required to introduce the possible effect of the method due to the content of some of its items. Consistency reliability was acceptable for screening purposes. The following steps are discussed to accumulate more validity evidence, suggesting to develop a shorter version without the problematic items, to reduce the potential response bias.