Measurement of Unwanted Thought Suppression Strategies with the Thought Control Questionnaire in the General Polish Population: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Validation

Figures & data

Figure 1 Scree plot of eigenvalues after principal component analysis. The number of components is on the x-axis and eigenvalue on the y-axis.

Table 1 The Results of Principal Component Analysis and Factor Loadings of the 30-Item Thought Control Questionnaire (N = 176) for the Five-Factor Solution

Item	Factor 1 Worry	Factor 2 Distraction	Factor 3 Social Control	Factor 4 Re-Appraisal	Factor 5 Punishment
26	0.801
18	0.743
4	0.686
7	0.659
24	0.632
22	0.570	0.500
21		0.782
16		0.697
1		0.636
19		0.595
3		−0.557
9		0.446
30		0.426
29			0.838
17			0.825
25			0.811
8			−0.691
12			−0.664
5			−0.600
27				0.671
23				0.644
14				0.628
10				0.604
20				0.435
13					0.726
15					0.668
6					0.586
11					0.583
2					0.578
28					0.357

Notes: The items included in particular sub-scales are presented in bold. Values above 0.4 were established as inclusion criteria.

Table 2 Pearson Product-Moment Correlations Between Individual Subscales and Descriptive Statistics for the TCQ Factors (N = 176)

	2	3	4	5	M	SD
(1) Worry	−0.028	−0.035	0.089	0.370***	9.81	3.02
(2) Distraction		0.076	0.365***	−0.198**	17.81	3.68
(3) Social Control			0.037	−0.074	14.51	4.15
(4) Reappraisal				0.163*	12.44	2.96
(5) Punishment					10.58	3.42

Notes: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.

Table 3 Pearson Product-Moment Correlations Between the TCQ Subscales and the BDI, STAI-T and MCQ Factors

	BDI	Anxiety Trait	Metacognitive Beliefs (n = 208)
TCQ (n = 208)	(n = 149)	(n = 204)	MCQ1	MCQ2	MCQ3	MCQ4	MCQ5
Social Control	−0.121	−0.094	−0.061	−0.053	−0.038	−0.155*	−0.018
Distraction	−0.346***	−0.157*	−0.150*	−0.348***	−0.255***	−0.199**	−0.007
Worry	0.137^	0.069	0.263***	0.237**	0.241***	0.333***	0.182**
Punishment	0.307***	0.375***	0.411***	0.606***	0.303***	0.540***	0.328***
Reappraisal	−0.110	0.185**	0.102	0.158*	0.178**	0.207**	0.378***
Total TCQ	−0.112	0.112	0.185**	0.183**	0.124^	0.225**	0.315***

Notes: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ^ 0.10 > p > 0.05 (a marginal trend toward significance).

Abbreviations: BDI, Beck Depression Inventory scores; TCQ, Thought Control Questionnaire; MCQ1, positive beliefs about worrying; MCQ2, negative beliefs about the uncontrollability of thoughts and danger; MCQ3, beliefs about cognitive confidence; MCQ4, general negative beliefs (including superstition, punishment and responsibility); MCQ5, cognitive self-consciousness.