Development of the Seasonal Beliefs Questionnaire: A Measure of Cognitions Specific to Seasonal Affective Disorder

Abstract

Rohan's (2002) integrative, cognitive-behavioral model proposes that individuals with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) experience frequent thoughts related to light availability and the seasons. To date, no measure exists to determine the existence and extent of these hypothesized SAD-specific cognitions. This study developed a preliminary 94-item self-report measure, the Seasonal Beliefs Questionnaire (SBQ), which was administered with several depression, seasonality, and cognitive measures via a secure web site to 104 college students from two universities. Volunteers returned approximately 2 weeks later and completed the SBQ again. The SBQ demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .98), high test-retest reliability (r = .93), good convergent validity with other cognitive measures for SAD (rs = .57-.84), and good divergent validity (r = .27). Based on these promising preliminary psychometrics, continued validation of the SBQ is warranted. Future studies with larger samples will reduce the number of items and perform a confirmatory factor analysis.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2005
Accession Number
ADA442325

Entities

People

  • Robert D. Lippy

Organizations

  • Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Attention Deficit Disorder
  • Cognition
  • Depression
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Electronic Mail
  • Factor Analysis
  • Information Processing
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Disorders
  • Phototherapy
  • Psychiatry
  • Psychology
  • Psychotherapy
  • Reliability
  • Surveys
  • Thinking
  • Websites

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.