Ruminating in English, ruminating in Spanish: Psychometric evaluation and validation of the Response Thoughts Style Questionnaire in Spain, Argentina, and USA

ADRIAN BRAVO; MATTHEW PEARSON; ANGELINA PILATTI; LAURA MEZQUITA; M I IBAÑEZ; G ORTET

European Journal of Psychological Assessment

Hogrefe Publishing

Lugar: Toronto; Año: 2018

1015-5759

The present study aimed to adapt and validate a Spanish version of the Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire (RTSQ) and test formeasurement invariance of the RTSQ across college students in the US, Spain, and Argentina (n = 1,632). Additionally, we examined/comparedacross these countries, criterion-related (i.e., concurrent) validity of RTSQ factors (i.e., problem-focused thoughts, counterfactual thinking,repetitive thoughts, and anticipatory thoughts) on constructs theoretically-associated with rumination. Consistent with previous findings, wefound that a 15-item 4-factor RTSQ provided a more adequate model compared to single-factor CFA models (15- and 20-item versions) inevery country. The reliability and validity of the subscales for the Spanish version were satisfactory-to-good in Spain and Argentina. Usingmultigroup confirmatory factor analyses, we found the 15-item 4-factor version of the RTSQ to be invariant across countries and sex. Bivariatecorrelations provided evidence for the criterion-related validity of the 4-factor RTSQ across the countries. Our findings suggest that self-reportitems of the RTSQ convey the same meaning, and that responses to those items load onto the same set of factors, across languages andcultures of administration. Taken together, our findings serve as a foundation for future cross-cultural work testing models in whichrumination is a central facet