Validity and reliability of the Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) among Chinese adolescents

Background: The Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) is a widely used self-report instrument to assess metacognitive beliefs. Although the Chinese version of MCQ-30 has been revised in college students, the validation of the scale has yet been confirmed among Chinese adolescents. In this study, we examined the psychometric properties of the MCQ-30 in a large sample of adolescents.
Methods: Participants were 2827 adolescents (48.9% male; mean age = 14.57, SD = 1.69) recruited from Jiangxi and Guizhou provinces of China. Participants’ metacognitive beliefs, symptoms of anxiety, depression, and irritability, positive childhood experiences and life satisfaction were measured by self-report questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to assess factor structure, as well as, measurement invariance across demographic groups and clinical symptoms.
Results: In the total sample, confirmatory factor analyses supported the original five-factor model: CFI = 0.918, TLI = 0.909, RMSEA (90%CI) = 0.068 (0.066-0.070). Furthermore, configural invariance and metric invariance were supported by gender, age, ethnicity, residence, parental education level, depression and anxiety status. Furthermore, all five subscales demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach alphas > 0.75) and test-retest reliability (intra-class correlation coefficients > 0.451). Finally, correlation analysis showed that the five factors were positively related to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and irritability and negatively related to positive childhood experiences and life satisfaction, indicating excellent validity.
Conclusions: The findings provide initial evidence that the MCQ-30 is a valid measure for use in Chinese adolescents.