Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T04:59:17.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Development and Preliminary Validation of a New Measure of Scrupulosity: The Scrupulous Thoughts and Behaviours Questionnaire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2021

Jing Wen Ong ,
Stephanie Betancourt  and
Brian Fisak
Jing Wen Ong
Affiliation:
Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA
Stephanie Betancourt
Affiliation:
University of Central Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida,USA
Brian Fisak*
Affiliation:
University of Central Florida, Sanford, Florida,USA
*
*Corresponding author. Brian Fisak, University of Central Florida, UCF Sanford/Lake Mary Campus, 100 Weldon Blvd., Partnership Building, Suite 4020, Sanford, FL32773, USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and provide a preliminary validation of a new measure of scrupulosity, the Scrupulous Thoughts and Behaviours Questionnaire (STBQ). More specifically, the STBQ was designed to assess a range of scrupulosity-related thoughts/obsessions and behaviours/compulsions. Following item development, a sample of non-referred college students completed the STBQ along with numerous validation measures. Based on factor analyses, a two-factor solution was retained. The first factor consisted of items that measure scrupulosity-themed obsessions and thoughts, and the second factor consisted of items that measure scrupulosity-themed compulsions and related behaviours. Support was found for the validity of STBQ, as both subscales were significantly and positively associated with measures of relevant constructs, including the Pennsylvania Inventory of Scrupulosity-Revised, the only other self-report measure of scrupulosity, thought–action fusion, religiosity, and obsessive–compulsive disorder symptoms. As the first known self-report measure to assess scrupulosity obsessions and compulsions, the STBQ has a potential utility in clinical practice and research.

Keywords

scrupulosityobsessionscompulsionsobsessive–compulsive disorderreligionPenn Inventory of Scrupulosity
Type
Standard Paper
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 38 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 164 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

*Abramowitz, JS and Jacoby, RJ (2014). Scrupulosity: A cognitive-behavioral analysis and implications for treatment. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 3, 140–149. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2013.12.007.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abramowitz, JS, Huppert, JD, Cohen, AB, Tolin, DF and Cahill, SP (2002). Religious obsessions and compulsions in a non-clinical sample: The Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity (PIOS). Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 825–838. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(01)00070-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abramowitz, JS, Deacon, BJ, Woods, CM and Tolin, DF (2004). Association between protestant religiosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and cognitions. Depression and Anxiety, 20, 70–76. doi:10.1002/da.20021.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Andrews, G, Henderson, S and Hall, W (2001). Prevalence, comorbidity, disability and service utilisation: Overview of the Australian National Mental Health Survey. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 178, 145–153. doi:10.1192/bjp.178.2.145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Antony, MM, Bieling, PJ, Cox, BJ, Enns, MW and Swinson, RP (1998). Psychometric properties of the 42-item and 21-item versions of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales in clinical groups and a community sample. Psychological Assessment, 10, 176–181. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.10.2.176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bejerot, S, Edman, G, Anckarsäter, H, Berglund, G, Gillberg, C, Hofvander, B, Humble, MB, Mörtberg, E, Råstam, M, Ståhlberg, O and Frisén, L (2014). The Brief Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (BOCS): A self-report scale for OCD and obsessive–compulsive related disorders. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 68, 549–559. doi:10.3109/08039488.2014.884631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Besiroglu, L, Karaca, S and Keskin, I (2014). Scrupulosity and obsessive compulsive disorder: The cognitive perspective in Islamic sources. Journal of Religion and Health, 53, 3–12. doi:10.1007/s10943-012-9588-7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, TA, Chorpita, BF, Korotitsch, W and Barlow, DH (1997). Psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) in clinical samples. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 79–89. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(96)00068-X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchholz, JL, Abramowitz, JS, Riemann, BC, Reuman, L, Blakey, SM, Leonard, RC and Thompson, KA (2019). Scrupulosity, religious affiliation and symptom presentation in obsessive compulsive disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 47, 478–492. doi:10.1017/S1352465818000711.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foa, EB, Huppert, JD, Leiberg, S, Langner, R, Kichic, R, Hajcak, G and Salkovskis, PM (2002). The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory: Development and validation of a short version. Psychological Assessment, 14, 485–496. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.14.4.485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fontenelle, IS, Fontenelle, LF, Borges, MC, Prazeres, AM, Rangé, BP, Mendlowicz, MV and Versiani, M (2010). Quality of life and symptom dimensions of patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Research, 179, 198–203. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2009.04.005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huppert, JD and Fradkin, I (2016). Validation of the Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity (PIOS) in scrupulous and nonscrupulous patients: Revision of factor structure and psychometrics. Psychological Assessment, 28, 639–651. doi:10.1037/pas0000203.supp.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
*Huppert, JD and Siev, J (2010). Treating scrupulosity in religious individuals using cognitive-behavioral therapy. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 17, 382–392. doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2009.07.003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inozu, M, Clark, DA and Karanci, AN (2012). Scrupulosity in Islam: A comparison of highly religious Turkish and Canadian samples. Behavior Therapy, 43, 190–202. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2011.06.002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kugler, BB, Lewin, AB, Phares, V, Geffken, GR, Murphy, TK and Storch, EA (2013). Quality of life in obsessive-compulsive disorder: The role of mediating variables. Psychiatry Research, 206, 43–49. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2012.10.006.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leon, AC, Portera, L and Weissman, MM (1995). The social costs of anxiety disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 166, 19–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, JF and Brown, TA (2012). Psychometric evaluation of the Thought–Action Fusion Scale in a large clinical sample. Assessment, 20, 764–774. doi:10.1177/1073191112436670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muris, P, Merckelbach, H and Horselenberg, R (1996). Individual differences in thought suppression. The White Bear Suppression Inventory: Factor structure, reliability, validity and correlates. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 34, 501–513. doi:10.1016/0005-7967(96)00005-8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, EA, Abramowitz, JS, Whiteside, SP and Deacon, BJ (2006). Scrupulosity in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: Relationship to clinical and cognitive phenomena. Anxiety Disorders, 20, 1071–1086. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.02.001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ólafsson, RP, Snorrason, Í and Smári, J (2010). Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: Psychometric properties of the self-report version in a student sample. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32, 226–235. doi:10.1007/s10862-009-9146-0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olatunji, BO, Abramowitz, JS, Williams, NL, Connolly, KM and Lohr, JM (2007). Scrupulosity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms: Confirmatory factor analysis and validity of the Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21, 771–787. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2006.12.002.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Phillips, A and Fisak, B (2020) An examination of the factor structure of the Penn Inventory of Scrupulosity-Revised (PIOS-R) in atheist and Christian samples. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. doi: 10.1037/rel0000322CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pirutinsky, S, Siev, J and Rosmarin, DH (2015). Scrupulosity and implicit and explicit beliefs about God. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 6, 33–38. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2015.05.002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plante, TG and Boccaccini, M (1997a). Reliability and validity of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Pastoral Psychology, 45, 429–437. doi:10.1007/BF02310643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plante, TG and Boccaccini, MT (1997b). The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Pastoral Psychology, 45, 375–387. doi:10.1007/BF02230993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rassin, E, Merckelbach, H, Muris, P and Schmidt, H (2001). The thought-action fusion scale: Further evidence for its reliability and validity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 537–544. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(00)00031-0.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosmarin, DH, Pirutinsky, S and Siev, J (2010) Recognition of scrupulosity and non-religious OCD by Orthodox and non-Orthodox Jews. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 29, 930–944. doi: 10.1521/jscp.2010.29.8.930CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, RE, Gay, P, Courvoisier, D, Jermann, F, Ceschi, G, David, M, Brinkmann, K and Van der Linden, M (2009). Anatomy of the White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI): A review of previous findings and a new approach. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 323–330. doi:10.1080/00223890902935738.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shafran, R, Thordarson, DS and Rachman, S (1996). Thought-action fusion in obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 10, 379–391. doi:10.1016/0887-6185(96)00018-7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, LJ, Krompinger, JW, Gironda, CM and Elias, JA (2013). Development of a scrupulosity severity scale using the Pennsylvania Inventory of Scrupulosity-Revised. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2, 420–424. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2013.08.001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sherman, AC, Simonton, S, Adams, DC, Latif, U, Plante, TG, Burns, SK and Poling, T (2001). Measuring religious faith in cancer patients: Reliability and construct validity of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Psycho-Oncology, 10, 436–443. doi:10.1002/pon.523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
*Siev, J, Baer, L and Minichiello, WE (2011). Obsessive-compulsive disorder with predominantly scrupulous symptoms: Clinical and religious characteristics. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67, 1188–1196. doi:10.1002/jclp.20843.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wegner, DM and Zanakos, S (1994). Chronic thought suppression. Journal of Personality, 62, 615–640. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1994.tb00311.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Witzig, TF Jr. and Pollard, CA (2013). Obsessional beliefs, religious beliefs, and scrupulosity among fundamental Protestant Christians. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 2, 331–337. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2013.06.002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar