Gender invariance and psychometric properties of the Non-Productive Thoughts Questionnaire for Children

Natália Kocsel, Kata Mónok, Edina Szabó, Antony Morgan, Melinda Reinhardt, Róbert Urbán, Zsolt Demetrovics, Gyöngyi Kökönyei*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
354 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Perseverative cognitions—rumination and worry—can contribute to mental and somatic health problems in adolescence. Girls usually report stronger rumination or worry than boys even in earlier years across the development age spectrum. Our aim was to test the gender invariance and psychometric properties of the Nonproductive Thoughts Questionnaire for Children (NPTQ-C). Study 1 involved 1,572 students (mean age = 15.39 years, SD = 2.26; 49% boy) recruited representatively from local schools. We applied confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to test the measurement model of perseverative cognitions. The gender invariance of the measurement model and the convergent validity were analyzed as well with CFA with covariates model. The original one-factor structure of NPTQ-C was supported in our adolescent sample. Gender invariance was also confirmed. The NPTQ-C indicated high convergent validity: showing positive correlations with emotional instability and emotional symptoms. In Study 2 (385 students; mean age = 16.05; SD = 1.23; 34% boy), we tested the construct validity of NPTQ-C. The applied CFA with covariates model supported the construct validity. In summary, NPTQ-C proved to be a good instrument for measuring ruminative and worrying thoughts of adolescents, which reliably measures perseverative cognitions across genders.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1480-1491
Number of pages12
JournalAssessment
Volume26
Issue number8
Early online date29 Apr 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2019

Keywords

  • convergent validity
  • gender invariance
  • Nonproductive Thoughts Questionnaire for Children
  • psychometrics
  • rumination
  • worry

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology
  • Applied Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Gender invariance and psychometric properties of the Non-Productive Thoughts Questionnaire for Children'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this