Abstract
The 22-item scale developed through the Midtown Manhattan Study is considered from methodological, substantive, and theoretical perspectives. This paper concludes that the instrument is, at best, a very incomplete measure of mental illness. A review of previous literature suggests a more reasonable interpretation is that it measures psychological stress and physical malaise, although even for these purposes it is a less than ideal measure. Use of the instrument examining the relationship between stressful life experiences and mental illness is further discouraged due to a conceptual confounding of the independent and dependent variables.
Keywords
Mental illnessPsychologyConfoundingInterpretation (philosophy)Scale (ratio)MalaiseMeasure (data warehouse)Field (mathematics)Clinical psychologySocial psychologyMental healthPsychiatryMedicineComputer science
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Publication Info
- Year
- 1973
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 252-252
- Citations
- 153
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Lauren H. Seiler
(1973).
The 22-Item Scale Used In Field Studies of Mental Illness: A Question of Method, a Question of Substance, and a Question of Theory.
Journal of Health and Social Behavior
, 14
(3)
, 252-252.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2137117
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.2307/2137117