Assessing psychopathology in Korean immigrants: some preliminary results on the SCL-90

The goal of this study was to respond to a pressing need for translated versions of existing measurement scales that can reliably and validly rate degree of psychopathology among various groups of Asian immigrants. Specifically, the study investigated the cross-cultural utility of the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) by examining scores of community and patient samples of Korean immigrants and comparing them with norms for Americans and for Koreans living in Korea. Several analyses were also performed to establish the cross-cultural utility of the SCL-90. First, the reliability of the Korean version of SCL-90 was compatible with that of the original scale. Second, the scores of patient samples were unequivocally escalated compared with the scores of community samples within each population (Koreans, Korean immigrants and Americans), providing a partial confirmation of the concurrent validity of the SCL-90. Third, the cross-cultural validity of the scale was assessed by examining the scores of the patient samples. As expected, both symptom profiles and symptom levels were virtually invariant in the three patient samples. However, results of the study were clear in demonstrating that the SCL-90 scores of the community sample of Korean immigrants were substantially higher than the community norms of both North American and Korean samples.