THE SYMPTOM RATING TEST (SRT) IN MEXICAN HIGH-SCHOOL-STUDENTS

Validation of the Symptom Rating Scale (SRT): (Kellner and Sheffield, 1973), was carried out in Mexican high school population. A total of 338 subjects were interviewed, 54% women and 46% men, considered as non psychiatric population. Discrimination routines of the items and factorial analysis were fulfilled with the purpose of proving the conceptual validity of the four areas evaluated by the questionnaire such as: inadequacy, anxiety, somatization and depression. Although the SRT is a reliable scale (alpha = .93), its factorial structure was not stable with respect to the original scale. The Symptom Rating Scale can be managed as two subescales that evaluate physical and psychological symptoms, or else by means of the modificated four original scales. Women obtained larger scores in symptomatology that men in the areas of depression, somatization, anxiety and indequacy.