Measurement Invariance of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10) Among Chilean, Colombian and Ecuadorian University Students

Psychological distress among university students requires measures that function equivalently across cultural contexts. This instrumental study evaluated the factorial structure, measurement invariance, convergent validity, and reliability of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10) in 1258 students from Chile (456), Colombia (319), and Ecuador (483). Confirmatory factor analyses were estimated with WLSMV for ordered categorical indicators. Because the original five-category model showed inadequate fit, alternative recodings were examined. A binary solution distinguishing never or almost never from symptoms experienced at least occasionally was retained and showed adequate unidimensional fit in each country. Multigroup analyses supported configural and scalar invariance across the three samples. Latent mean comparisons showed higher psychological distress in Ecuador than in Chile and Colombia, whereas Chile and Colombia did not differ significantly. Psychological distress was inversely associated with life satisfaction in each country, providing evidence of convergent validity. Ordinal omega coefficients ranged from 0.910 to 0.936, indicating high internal consistency. Overall, the findings support the use of the binary K-10 as a dimensional measure of psychological distress for cross-cultural research and group-level comparisons within the participating samples. However, generalisation to the original response format and use for individual screening, clinical decision-making, intervention evaluation, or monitoring change require additional validation.