Metacognitive beliefs of Polish adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychometric properties of the MCQ-A.
Objective: The study aimed to provide information on the psychometric properties of the MCQ-A for Polish adolescents; confirm the factor structure of the instrument relative to the original scale; and present the intensity of dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs of adolescents during the pandemic.
Methods: A total of 375 adolescents aged 1218 (M = 15.38; SD = 1.63) completed a questionnaire on their well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDI-2 questionnaire for the diagnosis of depression in children and adolescents; the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the Polish version of the MCQ-A.
Results: Structural validity was tested using confirmatory factor analyzes. The best results were obtained using a model that had a five-factor scale structure without a higher-order factor. The obtained psychometric properties are comparable to the results presented by the authors of the English version of MCQ-A30.
Conclusions: This research has shown that the Polish adaptation of MCQ-A is a reliable tool for studying metacognitive beliefs in adolescents.