Psychometric properties of the children's automatic thoughts scale (CATS) in Chinese adolescents

Ling Sun, Ronald M. Rapee, Xuan Tao, Yulei Yan, Shanshan Wang, Wei Xu, Jianping Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    6 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The Children’s Automatic Thoughts Scale (CATS) is a 40-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure children’s negative thoughts. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Chinese translation of the CATS. Participants included 1,993 students (average age = 14.73) from three schools in Mainland China. A subsample of the participants was retested after 4 weeks. Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the original structure with four first-order factors loading on a single higher-order factor. The convergent and divergent validity of the CATS were good. The CATS demonstrated high internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Boys scored higher on the CATS-hostility 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, social threat, and hostility subscales. The CATS proved to be a reliable and valid measure of automatic thoughts in Chinese adolescents.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)600-608
    Number of pages9
    JournalChild Psychiatry and Human Development
    Volume46
    Issue number4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 18 Aug 2015

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