Temperament, Repetitive Negative Thinking, and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: a Prospective Study

Abstract

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is a transdiagnostic vulnerability factor, involved in the maintenance of a variety of emotional problems. Recently, the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire -Child version (PTQ-C) was developed as a content-independent measure of RNT in children and adolescents. The current study investigated the reliability and predictive validity of the PTQ-C and examined temperament as a developmental predictor of RNT. For this end, 701 early adolescents completed measures of RNT, depressive symptoms, stressors, and temperament, both at baseline and after three months. First, the factor structure of the PTQ-C was investigated by comparing a one-factor model and a three-factor higher-order model using confirmatory factor analyses. Both models showed good fit to the data, but the more parsimonious one-factor model was retained. Internal consistency, as measured by cronbach's alpha and (hierarchical) omega, was found to be excellent for the total scale. Second, associations with depressive symptom levels were examined. RNT predicted both concurrent and prospective symptom levels, even when taking into account baseline depressive symptoms. RNT was further shown to act as a moderator strengthening the link between stress and levels of depressive symptoms, both concurrently and prospectively. Finally, associations with temperament were explored by investigating the mediating role of RNT in the association between temperament dimensions and depressive symptoms. One indirect effect was found, with low effortful control predicting increases in depressive symptoms through heightened levels of RNT. The current study supports the PTQ-C as a useful and psychometrically sound measure of dysfunctional RNT that may facilitate research on emotional problems in child and adolescent samples.

Psychometric Properties and Measurement Invariance Across Gender and Age-Group of the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire–Children (PTQ-C) in Colombia

“…However, the dimensions of the latter model were very strongly correlated (between .86 and .94), so the one-factor model was finally selected because of its parsimony. This factor solution has been replicated in the study by Bijttebier et al (2018), which also showed that the PTQ-C scores longitudinally predicted depressive symptoms even when controlling baseline symptomatology.…”

Repetitive Negative Thinking outperforms loneliness and lack of social connectedness as a predictor of prospective depressive symptoms in adolescents

“…For example, in a longitudinal cohort study in 658 at-risk adolescents Wilkinson et al (9) found that RNT predicted both the onset of a depressive episode and levels of depressive symptoms over a 12month interval, when controlled for baseline symptomatology. Likewise, Bijttebier and colleagues (10) showed that, again when controlled for baseline symptom levels, RNT predicted prospective levels of depressive symptoms at 3-month follow-up in 701 adolescents.…”

Validation of the Child-version of the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire of repetitive negative thinking in young people with diagnosed depressive and anxiety disorders

“…For the one-factor model, all 15 PTQ-C items were loaded onto the one latent variable, as in Bijttebier et al (2018), v 2 (90) = 206.27, p < .001, CFI = 0.88, RMSEA = 0.11, 90% CI [0.09, 0.12], RMSEA test of close fit p < .001. Results suggested that for the one-factor model, the hypothesis of both perfect fit and close fit were rejected.…”