Premium
Automatic thoughts and meta‐cognition as predictors of depressive or anxious symptoms: A prospective study of two trajectories
Author(s) -
HJEMDAL ODIN,
STILES TORE,
WELLS ADRIAN
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/sjop.12010
Subject(s) - psychology , depressive symptoms , anxiety , clinical psychology , cognition , checklist , multilevel model , prospective cohort study , psychiatry , medicine , cognitive psychology , machine learning , computer science
The purpose of this prospective study was to explore the Automatic Thought Questionnaire Negative (ATQ‐30‐N) and the Meta‐cognitions Questionnaire (MCQ‐30) as predictors in the development of depressive or anxious symptoms. A sample ( N = 201) completed the ATQ‐30‐N, MCQ‐30, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist‐25 (HSCL‐25) twice with a three month interval. The HSCL‐25 measures both depressive and anxiety symptoms. Separate multiple hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the ATQ‐30‐N was a positive predictor for levels of depressive symptoms, while the MCQ‐30 was a predictor of both levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, at follow‐up, when controlling for gender, age and pre‐test levels of symptoms. However, the MCQ‐30 did not predict future levels of depressive symptoms, when levels of automatic negative thoughts measured by the ATQ‐30‐N were statistically controlled for. The findings suggested that the ATQ‐30‐N predicts future levels of depressive symptoms, while the MCQ‐30 primarily predicts future levels of anxiety.