Development of the seasonal beliefs questionnaire : a measure of cognitions specific to seasonal affective disorder /

by Lippy, Robert D.

Title of Thesis: Development of the Seasonal Beliefs Questionnaire: A Measure of Robert D. Lippy, Master of Science, 2005 Cognitions Specific to Seasonal Affective Disorder Thesis directed by: Kelly J. Rohan, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology 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 website 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. iii