Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic Of Iran

en The Factor Structure and Generalizability of the Iranian Socioeconomic Status (SES) Questionnaire Administered in a Nationally Divergent Population Epidemiology Epidemiology Original Research Original Research     Background: Measuring socioeconomic status (SES) as an independent variable is challenging, especially in epidemiological and social studies. This issue is more critical in large-scale studies on the national level. The present study aimed to extensively evaluate the validity and reliability of the Iranian SES questionnaire.    Methods: This psychometric, cross-sectional study was conducted on 3000 households, selected via random cluster sampling from various areas in East Azerbaijan province and Tehran, Iran. Moreover, 250 students from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences were selected as interviewers to collect data from 40 districts in Iran. The construct validity and internal consistency of the SES questionnaire were assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and the Cronbach's alpha. Data analysis was performed in SPSS and AMOS.    Results: The complete Iranian version of the SES questionnaire consists of 5 factors. The Cronbach's alpha was calculated to be 0.79, 0.94, 0.66, 0.69, and 0.48 for the occupation, self-evaluation of economic capacity, house and furniture, wealth, and health expenditure, respectively. In addition, the confirmatory factor analysis results indicated the data's compatibility with the 5-factor model (comparative fit index = 0.96; goodness of fit index = 0.95; incremental fit index = 0.96; root mean square error of approximation = 0.05). Conclusion: According to the results, the confirmed validity and reliability of the tool indicated that the Iranian version of the SES questionnaire could be utilized with the same structure on an extensive level and could be applicable for measuring the SES in a broader range of populations.   Socioeconomic Status, Generalizability, Validity, Reliability, Factor Structure, Psychometric 244 250 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-7555-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Homayoun Sadeghi-Bazargani homayoun.bazargani@gmail.com 200319475328460088925 200319475328460088925 No Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Hamid Soori hsoori@yahoo.com 200319475328460088926 200319475328460088926 No Faculty of Medicine, Cyprus International University, Nicosia Seyed Abbas Motevalian motevalian.a@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460088927 200319475328460088927 No Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Omid Aboubakri asso.mhabad@gmail.com 200319475328460088928 200319475328460088928 No Environmental Health Research Center, Research Institute for Health Development, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran Ali Jafari-Khounigh jafariali77@gmail.com 200319475328460088929 200319475328460088929 No Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Alireza Razzaghi razzaghi.alireza1@gmail.com 200319475328460088930 200319475328460088930 No Children Growth Research Center, Research Institute for Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran Hamid Reza Khankeh ha.khankeh@uswr.ac.ir 200319475328460088931 200319475328460088931 No Department of Nursing, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Health in Emergency and Disaster Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran Seyyed Taghi Heydari heidaryt@sums.ac.ir 200319475328460088932 200319475328460088932 No Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran Forouzan Rezapur Shahkolai forouzan.rezapour@gmail.com 200319475328460088933 200319475328460088933 No Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran Mojtaba Sehat mojtaba.sehat@gmail.com 200319475328460088934 200319475328460088934 No Trauma Research Center, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran Davoud Khorasani Zavareh davoud.khorasani@gmail.com 200319475328460088935 200319475328460088935 No Workplace Health Promotion Research Center (WHPRC), Department of Health in Emergencies and Disasters, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mohammad Asghari-Jafarabadi mjafarabadi@cabrini.com.au 200319475328460088936 200319475328460088936 No Cabrini Research, Cabrini Health, Melbourne, VIC, 3144 & School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia & Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Ali Imani Maimani58@gmail.com 200319475328460088937 200319475328460088937 No Health Economics Department, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Mohammad Bagher Alizadeh Aghdam aghdam1351@yahoo.com 200319475328460088938 200319475328460088938 No Department of Social Science, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran Hossein Poustchi h.poustchi@gmail.com 200319475328460088939 200319475328460088939 No Digestive Diseases Research Institute, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Mahdi Rezaei mrezaei56@gmail.com 200319475328460088940 200319475328460088940 No Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran Mina Golestani golestanim@tbzmed.ac.ir 200319475328460088941 200319475328460088941 Yes Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran