A SET OF FACTOR ANALYTICALLY DERIVED SCALES FOR SCORING THE M-B HISTORY RECORD

A study was made of the factor structure underlying items from a standard social history questionnaire, The Briggs M-B History Record (MBHR). Relatives of 187 psychiatric patients completed the MBHR. An orthogonal factor analysis yielded 7 factors identified on the basis of item content as Condbct Disorder, Home Instability, Poor Family Atmosphere, Low Educational Achievement, Lack of Social Interest, Hypochondriasis, and Learning Difficulty. The factors were scored in order to determine the reliabilities of the factor scale scores and to compare the factors with the item clusters obtained by Briggs.