ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Positive Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1547673
Validity of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) among Home-Language Setswana Speaking South Africans: Evidence for a Four-Factor Model
Provisionally accepted
- North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
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From a positive psychology perspective, it has been proposed that mental health comprises three dimensions: emotional well-being (EWB), psychological [or personal] well-being (PWB), and social well-being (SWB). To assess these dimensions, Keyes (2002) developed the Mental Health Continuum -Short-Form (MHC-SF), which has been validated in various cultural contexts. In this model, mental health is operationalized as the presence of various positive indicators rather than the absence of psychopathology in a model which is purported to be cross-culturally applicable. While numerous studies support the original, correlated three-factor model, some current arguments are being made for a bifactor model with three dimensions. However, few newer validation studies explore the possibility of alternate models which might be applicable to non-Western, collectivist cultures who can also benefit from accurate assessments and positive psychology interventions. This study assessed the validity of the MHC-SF among 308 Setswana home-language South Africans aged 19 to 31 years. Results indicated that the correlated three-factor structure or bifactor model validated previously was a good fit, but a correlated four-factor model was a better fit and a bifactor model with four dimensions was the best fitting. An initial exploratory factor analysis using maximum likelihood and promax rotation suggested that this was due to the social well-being scale being divisible into: "belonging in society" (social 1) and "perceptions of society" (social 2) rather than a single construct (social well-being). These results emphasize the distinct aspects of well-being in a Setswana-speaking sample, highlighting the importance of culturally and linguistically informed models of mental health, particularly in collectivistic cultures within developing countries. This has implications for the use of the MHC-SF in research and culturally appropriate assessment and intervention design, as well as the applicability of fundamental models of mental health in non-Western and African contexts.
Keywords: Psychometric validity, bifactorial model, confirmatory factor analysis, Mental Health Continuum -Short Form (MHC-SF), Setswana home language
Received: 18 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Opperman, Potgieter and Daniel-Smit. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ingrid Opperman, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
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