JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Online questionnaires are widely used for large-scale mental health screening. However, careless responses from participants can compromise data validity, ultimately undermining the reliability of screening outcomes. While prior studies have primarily focused on the effects of individual and environmental factors on careless responding, the role of questionnaire type remains underexplored. Furthermore, few studies have examined careless responding within mental health screening contexts.

Objective:

This study aims to investigate the individual factors influencing careless responses in online mental health screening questionnaires and assess how these factors vary across different types of psychological screening instruments.

Methods:

Data were collected from 24,367 participants at Xinxiang Medical University, encompassing four widely used psychological screening questionnaires designed to assess depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia. Logistic regression models were applied to analyze the impact of individual factors on careless responding and to evaluate the moderating role of questionnaire type. Additionally, average response times were analyzed to identify characteristic patterns associated with careless responding.

Results:

Gender: Female participants demonstrated greater conscientiousness than males when completing psychological screening questionnaires (p < 0.01). Educational level: Contrary to expectations, participants with higher education levels exhibited more careless responses (p < 0.01), potentially due to heightened self-esteem and reluctance to disclose mental health concerns. Age: Older participants were more meticulous when completing surveys on depression and stress (p < 0.01) but displayed increased careless responding in the insomnia questionnaires (p < 0.01). Smoking habit: Smokers showed greater care when responding to the depression survey but were more prone to careless responses in other questionnaires (p < 0.05). Drinking habit: Drinkers, compared to non-drinkers, were more likely to respond carefully (p < 0.05). Analysis of response times revealed that participants tended to spend less time on surveys on depression and anxiety, often skimming through questions. In contrast, careless responding in surveys on stress and insomnia was characterized by skipped questions and rapid answer selection.

Conclusions:

Careless responding in online psychological screening deviates from previous findings. The influence of individual factors varies across questionnaire types, likely due to differences in participants’ attentiveness to specific instruments. These findings offer valuable insights for questionnaire designers and administrators, highlighting the need for targeted interventions tailored to user group characteristics and the unique features of different questionnaire types to mitigate careless responding.