Abstract
AimThe Metacognitions Questionnaire‐30 (MCQ‐30) has been used to assess metacognitive beliefs in a range of mental health problems. The aim of this study is to assess the validity of the MCQ‐30 in people at risk for psychosis.MethodsOne hundred eighty‐five participants meeting criteria for an at risk mental state completed the MCQ‐30 as part of their involvement in a randomized controlled trial. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were conducted to assess factor structure and construct validity.ResultsConfirmatory factor analyses confirmed the original five‐factor structure of the MCQ‐30. Examination of principal component analysis and parallel analysis outputs also suggested a five‐factor structure. Correlation analyses including measures of depression, social anxiety, and beliefs about paranoia showed evidence of convergent validity. Discriminant validity was supported using the normalizing subscale of the beliefs about paranoia tool.ConclusionsThe MCQ‐30 demonstrated good fit using the original five‐factor model, acceptable to very good internal consistency of items was evident and clinical usefulness in those at risk for psychosis was demonstrated.
Highlights
Metacognition is loosely defined as cognition about cognition or thinking about thinking (Flavell, 1979)
With the increased use of the Metacognitions Questionnaire‐30 (MCQ‐30) measure in at risk for psychosis research, it is important to examine the validity of this measure in this sample
The chi‐square result indicated a poor fitting model, the chi‐square is very sensitive to sample size (Garver & Mentzer, 1999; Hair et al, 2014), with larger samples leading to the increased likelihood of a significant chi‐square
Summary
Metacognition is loosely defined as cognition about cognition or thinking about thinking (Flavell, 1979). The importance of a distinction between cognition and metacognitions has been developed in the self‐regulatory executive function (S‐REF) model (Wells & Davies, 1994) of psychopathology. In this model, a syndrome of perseverative thinking is thought to cause most types of psychological disorder. A syndrome of perseverative thinking is thought to cause most types of psychological disorder This cognitive attention syndrome (CAS) is a process of worry, rumination, fixating attention on threat, and unhelpful coping behaviours (e.g., avoidance, trying to control thoughts, substance use) and leads to the maintenance of distressing emotions or cognitions
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