Measures of mental health are heavily relied upon to identify at-risk individuals. However, self-reported mental health metrics might be unduly affected by mis-reporting (perhaps stemming from stigma effects). In this article, we consider this phenomenon by focusing upon the mis-reporting of mental health using UK panel data from 1991 to 2018. In separate analyses of males and females, we examine how inaccurate reporting of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) measure, specifically its sub-components, can adversely affect the distribution of the index. The analysis suggests that individuals typically over report their mental health (especially so for males). The results are then used to adjust the GHQ-12 score to take mis-reporting into account. We then compare the effects of the adjusted/unadjusted GHQ-12 index when modelling a number of important economic transitions. Using the original index typically leads to an underestimate of the effect of poor mental health on transitions into improved economic states, for example, unemployment to employment.

中文翻译：

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心理健康、报告偏见和经济转型

严重依赖心理健康措施来识别高危人群。然而，自我报告的心理健康指标可能会受到错误报告的过度影响（可能源于污名效应）。在本文中，我们通过使用 1991 年至 2018 年的英国面板数据关注心理健康的误报来考虑这一现象。在对男性和女性的单独分析中，我们检查了一般健康问卷 (GHQ-12) 报告的不准确程度衡量指标，特别是其子成分，会对指数的分布产生不利影响。分析表明，个人通常会过度报告他们的心理健康状况（尤其是男性）。然后将结果用于调整 GHQ-12 分数以考虑误报。然后，我们在对一些重要的经济转型进行建模时比较了调整后/未调整的 GHQ-12 指数的影响。使用原始指数通常会导致低估不良心理健康对向改善经济状态转变的影响，例如从失业到就业。