National Institute for Health and Care Research

Measure

Repetitive Thinking Questionnaire-10 (RTQ-10)

Age range 12 — 18
Completion time 5 minutes
Respondent Self Report
Problem areas
Anxiety Mood Problems Obsessions and Compulsions Sleep Disruption

Overview

The RTQ-10 is an adaptation of the original RTQ (McEvoy et al., 2010): a 31 item measure, including two subscales labeled Repetitive Negative Thinking (RNT) and Absence of Repetitive Thinking (ART). The RTQ-10 is a unidimensional measure made up of the 10 items with the highest factor loadings from the original 27-item RTQ subscale. The creation of the RTQ was in response to a lack of generic or transdiagnostic measures of RNT, developed by combining items from commonly used measures of worry (Penn State Worry Questionnaire: Meyer et al., 1990), rumination (Treynor et al., 2003) and post-event processing (McEvoy & Kingsep, 2006), and then modifying the items to remove diagnosis-specific content.

Scoring & Interpretation

Items are rated in response to participants experiences of distress or upset. " Please recall how you tend to respond when you feel distressed or upset?" Items are scored on a Likert scale of 1 (not at all true) to 5 (very true).

Psychometric Properties

Internal Consistency

Internal consistency reliability was excellent in both the undergraduate (α = .94, mean inter- item correlation = .59) and clinical (α = .92, mean inter-item correlation = .53) samples.

Test-Retest Reliability

Factor Structure

Exploratory Factor Analysis suggested a one-factor structure in both a student and adult clinical sample (McEvoy et al., 2014).

Validity

RTQ-10 was significantly, moderately, and positively correlated with rumination (Ruminative Response Scale (RRS, Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow, 1991)), worry (Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ, Meyer et al., 1990), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II, Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996).) and anxiety symptoms (Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI, Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988), depression- and anxiety-related cognitions (CCLD [depression] and CCLA [anxiety], respectively: Cognitions Check List (CCL, Beck, Brown, Steer, Eidelson, & Riskind, 1987).), and negative affect (Positive And Negative Affect Scale (PANAS, Watson, Clarke, & Tellegen, 1988). Divergent validity was demonstrated by a small but significant negative correlation between the RTQ-10 and positive affect (Positive And Negative Affect Scale (PANAS, Watson, Clarke, & Tellegen, 1988).

Measurement Invariance

The Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test was used to test for gender-based differential item functioning.. Clinical and non-clinical participants were combined. The analysess found no item on the RTQ-10 exhibited gender-based differential item functioning (Mantel Haenszel chi-square test:all ps > .10, all absolute effect sizes < .15). See also Kascar-Basaran et al., (2023).

Access

Measure included as an appendix (McEvoy et al., 2014). Check with author before use.
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