Trait Repetitive Negative Thinking: Psychometric Properties of the Turkish Version of the Brief Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ-10)

• Published in: International journal of cognitive therapy 2023-09, Vol.16 (3), p.416-431
• Main Authors: Kaçar-Başaran, Servet, Gökdağ, Ceren, McEvoy, Peter M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age differences; Anxiety; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Behavioral Therapy; Clinical Psychology; Cultural differences; Cultural factors; Emotional disorders; Females; Hypotheses; Measurement; Measures; Mental disorders; Psychological distress; Psychological problems; Psychology; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Reliability; Rumination; Short forms; Validity
• ISSN: 1937-1217; 1937-1209; 1937-1217
• DOI: 10.1007/s41811-023-00176-y

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a transdiagnostic risk factor for many psychological problems, so it is essential to measure RNT validly and reliably across different cultural contexts. The 10-item brief version of the Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ-10) has strong psychometric properties and predicts a range of emotional symptoms. Although there are versions of the scale in different languages, it has not been adapted to Turkish. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of RTQ-10 in a Turkish-speaking community sample. A total of 310 adults ( M age  = 27.86, SD  = 8.67, 73.5% female) completed an online survey including RTQ-10, and 261 of them ( M age  = 27.55, SD age  = 8.56, 72.8% female) completed scales measuring perseverative thinking, rumination, worry, and psychological symptoms. Results demonstrated that the Turkish version of the RTQ-10 had a unitary structure with high internal reliability ( α  = .93), similar to the original version. The single-factor model also demonstrated measurement invariance across gender and age groups. The RTQ-10 was positively correlated with perseverative thinking, rumination, worry, depression, anxiety, and stress severities, and demonstrated incremental validity by predicting the variance in psychological distress beyond other measures of RNT. Overall, the results indicated that the Turkish version of the RTQ-10 is a reliable and valid measurement tool for the assessment of RNT.