A comparison of factor structure models for the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) among preschool teachers in South Korea

Positive mental health is fundamental to individuals' overall well-being, and a reliable assessment of well-being has been of concern to many researchers over the past decade. These efforts have engendered a plethora of well-being rating scales, of which the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) is a self-assessment scale measuring positive human mental functioning. In this study, we examine the inherent structure of the Korean version of the MHC-SF by testing several competing models identified in the literature. Data were collected from a sample of 252 preschool teachers working in childcare centers in South Korea. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to determine the structure of the MHC-SF. McDonald's omega coefficients were used to evaluate reliability. Our results for CFA revealed that a bifactor model with a general well-being factor and three specific factors comprising the emotional, social, and psychological dimensions produced the best fit with the data. Additionally, the MHC-SF evinced excellent internal consistency. Our findings suggest that the scores of the three specific factors should not be used as the first choice when using the MHC-SF, and the MHC-SF appears to be a measure that is best seen as a single unitary construct of general well-being.