The structure of the MHC-SF in a large American sample: contributions of multidimensional scaling.

Background: Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a data reduction tool that produces a visual representation of the association between variables to facilitate the identification of underlying concepts and structures. This technique has been underused in well-being research.Aim: This study used MDS to unravel the underlying concepts and structures in the 14 items of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF).Methods: A sample of 22 606 American students was used. Two-dimensional MDS plots were generated for the entire sample, and separately for each gender group.Results: MDS yielded three non-overlapping clusters of the items that correspond to the three hypothesized well-being concepts measured by the MHC-SF. The results also showed that the items vary along the two underlying dimensions of personal vs. social, and hedonic vs. eudaimonic. The same general structure was found in both females and males.Conclusion: These results supplement and extend the findings of prior factor analytic studies on the MHC-SF by showing that the items of the scale can be distinguished along two separate continua. The results also support the tripartite model of mental well-being.