In the United States and some European countries, many researches on psychiatric epidemiology or community psychology based on population surveys have been carried out to obtain basic data on community mental health. These researches have been based on self-rating questionnaires or semistructured interview schedules. Psychiatric epidemiology has been advanced through the introduction of these research instruments, operational classificatory schemes, and population prevalence surveys^1-8).
In Japan, however, epidemiologic studies in these areas are sparse. One of the reasons may be due to the fact that there have been few conventional questionnaires applicable to such epidemiologic surveys. Recently, however, the validity and reliability of the Zung self-rating depression scale⁹⁾ have been tested by Kawakami and Koizumi¹⁰⁾. Several investigations of subjective health status have been performed according to the Cornell Medical Index (CMI), while a few others used the Todai Health Index (THI). Although both the CMI and the THI have been recognized as useful questionnaires for such surveys¹¹⁾, they consist of too many items, 195 and 130, respectively. Therefore, research based on these questionnaires is attended with some difficulties.
As self-rating questionnaires, the General Health Questionnaire^{12, 13)} (GHQ) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale¹⁴⁾ (CES-D) have been widely applied to such researches in the United States and in European countries. Each of the questionnaires is so brief that it takes only a short time to be completed; thus, they have been easily applicable to many types of surveys. In Japan, neither the validity nor the reliability of either questionnaire has been recognized in samples of adult workers, though Nakagawa and Daibo¹⁵⁾ reported that the sensitivity, specificity and overall misclassification rate of the GHQ were 94.2%, 76.4% and 13.7%, respectively, in a comparison between neurotic patients and normal controls.
In the present study the authors examine the relationships between these questionnaires and the THI as a test battery. This paper presents basic data about the nature and the criterion-related validities and reliabilities of the Japanese versions of the GHQ and the CES-D in epidemiologic surveys.