ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026
Psychometric structure and score interpretation of the SCL-90 among Chinese first-year undergraduates: an analysis of an open dataset.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: The Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) provides total and domain scores whose shared and distinct information remains debated. Methods: We analyzed an open dataset of 14,371 Chinese first-year undergraduates in calibration and validation halves. Four item-level structures (unidimensional, nine correlated factors, second-order, and orthogonal bifactor) were compared on the same 83 domain-scored items using robust maximum likelihood (MLR) in both halves and mean- and variance-adjusted weighted least squares (WLSMV) for ordered items in validation. A separate single-factor model included all 90 items. Evaluation combined absolute and relative fit, numerical diagnostics, loadings, residuals, and general and specific reliability. Results: For the 83-item comparison, the correlated-factor model had a non-positive-definite latent matrix. The bifactor model improved on the admissible second-order model, but its WLSMV comparative fit index (CFI) advantage was only 0.0079; MLR validation fit remained mixed (CFI = 0.849, Tucker-Lewis index [TLI] = 0.842, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.045, standardized root mean square residual [SRMR] = 0.042). Under that MLR bifactor specification, general explained common variance (ECV) was 0.813 [0.804, 0.822] and omegaH was 0.963 [0.961, 0.965]. Specific omegaHS ranged from 0.017 to 0.293, with somatization, phobic anxiety, and hostility retaining comparatively more specific information. WLSMV general omegaH was 0.967 and specific omegaHS ranged from 0.005 to 0.186. The 90-item single-factor model showed limited incremental fit (MLR CFI = 0.769/0.773; WLSMV CFI = 0.896); RMSEA was 0.052/0.052 and 0.044, and residual dependence persisted. High 90-item alpha (0.978) therefore coexisted with departures from strict unidimensionality. An exploratory mixture audit yielded no stable class solution. Discussion: These data support a substantial general-severity component and uneven domain-specific information within the modeled 83-item structure. Its reliability decomposition does not establish that of the conventional 90-item total or global severity index. Independent-sample replication remains necessary.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.