The Accuracy Properties of the Reflective Thinking Index in Polish Language Narratives

Abstract

The assessment of the Reflective Thinking Index in narratives is considered as an insights indicator of the person constructing a story. The aim of this study was to verify the index validity. 553 adults took part in the study. The respondents wrote a story about their close relationship and filled in questionnaires measuring the state and trait anxiety, depression, and personality disorder traits. In the narratives, all the phrases constituting the Reflective Thinking Index components were counted using a computerized method. Then, a cluster analysis was performed using the k-means method to distinguish types of people with specific index values. Next, it was checked whether the identified subtypes of the index allow differentiating people with an optimistic vision of the situation, high vs low levels of anxiety state/trait, high vs low levels of depressive mood, and various personality disorder traits. To demonstrate index sensitivity, specificity, and precision, ROC curves were analyzed. The results indicate that the Reflective Thinking Index varies depending on the level of state/trait anxiety, optimistic vision of the situation, depressiveness, and education level. High Reflective Thinking is associated with average sensitivity, low specificity, and average precision in the prediction of an optimistic situation vision. The low Reflective Thinking Index is characterized by average sensitivity, low specificity, and average precision in the prediction of state/trait anxiety. The obtained accuracy properties of the Reflective Thinking Index suggest some caution in its application and interpretation.