|
Abstract
|
Objective: The present study is a preliminary examination of the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Children’s Automatic Thoughts Scale (CATS; Schniering & Rapee, 2002), a developmentally sensitive measure of cognitions associated with childhood internalizing and externalizing disorders.Methods:Participants included 50 cases with clinical anxiety assessed in the out-patient child psychiatry clinic and 351 students, aged 8-18 years, from four schools in Athens and Peloponnese region (an on-going epidemiological study). All participants completed along the CATS, the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS; Chorpita et al., 2000). Results: The CATS demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.94) and test-retest reliability (r=0.90). In the school sample, girls scored higher on the CATS-physical threat and CATS-personal failure subscale, but there were no other gender differences. Older adolescents (15-18 years) reported higher scores than younger adolescents (12-14 years) on the total score and on the physical threat, and personal failure subscales. In the clinical sample, gender and age differences were not found. Separate multiple hierarchical regression analyses in the school sample indicated that the CATS-social threat was a positive predictor for the level of anxiety symptoms, while the CATS-personal failure and CATS-physical threat were predictors of both levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, when controlling for gender and age. In the clinical sample, the CATS-social threat and CATS-physical threat predicted the levels of anxiety symptoms, while the CATS-personal failure was the predictor for the level of depressive symptoms. Furthermore we found significantly higher total CATS scores in the clinical sample than in the school sample, which were accounted for by higher physical and social threat scores. CATS-hostility intent scores were significantly higher among school children whose father was unemployed. Conclusion: Our preliminary results suggest that the Greek CATS is a reliable and valid instrument that evaluates the presence and severity of negative cognition in children and adolescents and could be utilized in research and clinical practice (e.g. detect treatment effects) as well as in educational settings where the thought content of children and adolescents are important in areas such as friendship, academic success and bullying.
|
