The Investigation of Psychometric Properties of the Metacognitions Questionnaire in 9-13-Year-Old Children

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Metacognition as a process involved in “thinking about own thinking”, has an important role in various psychopathologies in children. This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of Metacognitions Questionnaire for Children (MCQ-C) for Iranian children. Methods: Participants were 338 children aged 9-13 years who were randomly selected from primary schools in Qom, Iran. First the MCQ-C was translated to Persian and then back translated into English. After confirming translation, the final draft was administered to 350 children. psychometric properties including construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), convergent validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were measured. Data analysis was done in SPSS v.21 and Amos v.24 applications, Results: The results of CFA showed the relative fitness of the model. Correlation coefficients indicated favorable convergent validity of the questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the whole questionnaire was 0.77 and the three-week test-retest reliability was 0.70, indicating the good reliability of the questionnaire. Conclusion: The Persian MCQ-C has appropriate psychometric properties for Iranian children. It can be used in research and psychotherapy in the field of Iranian children’ psychopathologies, especially anxiety disorders.

Keywords

• metacognition cognition
• psychometrics
• validity
• reliability