The Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ): Validation of a content-independent measure of repetitive negative thinking

By T. Ehring, Ulrike Zetsche, K. Weidacker, Karina Wahl, S. Schönfeld, A. Ehlers. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 2011

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Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) has been found to be involved in the maintenance of several types of emotional problems and has therefore been suggested to be a transdiagnostic process. However, existing measures of RNT typically focus on a particular disorder-specific content. In this article, the preliminary validation of a content-independent self-report questionnaire of RNT is presented. The 15-item Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire was evaluated in two studies (total N = 1832), comprising non-clinical as well as clinical participants. Results of confirmatory factor analyses across samples supported a second-order model with one higher-order factor representing RNT in general and three lower-order factors representing (1) the core characteristics of RNT (repetitiveness, intrusiveness, difficulties with disengagement), (2) perceived unproductiveness of RNT and (3) RNT capturing mental capacity. High internal consistencies and high re-test reliability were found for the total scale and all three subscales. The validity of the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire was supported by substantial correlations with existing measures of RNT and associations with symptom levels and clinical diagnoses of depression and anxiety. Results suggest the usefulness of the new measure for research into RNT as a transdiagnostic process.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e2a710842dc6c6ab8c361489751015289c603c4a

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Citations in the corpus

How do mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based stress reduction improve mental health and wellbeing? A systematic review and meta-analysis of mediation studies. (2015, background): “RNT is a style of repetitive thinking about negative experiences which is difficult to disengage from and at least partly intrusive (Ehring et al., 2011).”
The Brief State Rumination Inventory (BSRI): Validation and Psychometric Evaluation (2018, background): “2012), and the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ; Ehring et al. 2011).”
A meta-analysis of correlations between depression and first person singular pronoun use (2017, background): “Perseveration is a form of repetitive thinking (Ehring et al., 2011); it can be neutral (i.e., reflection) or negative (i.e., brooding [about the past] or worrying [about the future]).”