Negative cognitive errors in children: Questionnaire development, normative data, and comparisons between children with and without self-reported symptoms of depression, low self-esteem, and evaluation anxiety.

Constructed a self-report questionnaire, Children's Negative Cognitive Error Questionnaire (CNCEQ), to measure in children 4 types of negative cognitive errors derived from A. T. Beck's (1967, 1976) cognitive theory of adult depression: (a) overgeneralized predictions of negative outcomes, (b) catastrophizing the consequences of negative events, (c) incorrectly taking personal responsibility for negative outcomes, and (d) selectively attending to negative features of an event. Results from administration of the CNCEQ to a normative sample of 637 4th-, 6th-, and 8th-grade children showed that in general these Ss did not endorse any of the 4 types of negative thoughts to any large extent. However, 3 subsequent studies, using 201 of the Ss in the normative sample and 211 other 4th–8th grade children, indicated that Ss with self-reported symptoms of depression, low self-esteem, and evaluation anxiety (according to a children's depression inventory, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, and a test anxiety scale) endorsed each type of negative cognitive error significantly more than did their nondepressed, high self-esteem, and non-evaluation-anxious counterparts. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)