Worry / Rumination
Available in Dutch, English and Farsi; Spanish and Italian will follow soon; 10 items
The Non-Productive Thoughts Questionnaire reflects the tendency to dwell on a problem, instead of dealing with it in terms of solving the problem or coping adaptively with the emotional impact of the situation, which is usually referred to in the literature as rumination or worrying. This questionnaire was originally developed in Dutch, but was also translated from Dutch to English by a team of developmental psychologists. A group of primary school teachers checked the wording of the items for suitability. The questionnaire contains 10 items. Respondents are asked to rate the degree to which each item is true about them on a three-point scale (1 = not true, 2 = sometimes true, 3 = often true). The internal consistency of this list is good among Dutch and UK populations (alpha > .80).
Jellesma, F., Meerum Terwogt, M., Reijntjes, A., Rieffe, C. & Stegge, H. (2005). De vragenlijst Non-Productieve Denkprocessen voor Kinderen (NPDK): Piekeren en Rumineren. Kind en Adolescent, 26, 368-378.
Miers, A.C., Rieffe, C., Meerum Terwogt, M., Cowan, R. & Linden, W. (2007). The relation between anger coping strategies, anger mood and somatic complaints in children and adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 653-664.
The Non-Productive Thoughts Questionnaire reflects the tendency to dwell on a problem, instead of dealing with it in terms of solving the problem or coping adaptively with the emotional impact of the situation, which is usually referred to in the literature as rumination or worrying. This questionnaire was originally developed in Dutch, but was also translated from Dutch to English by a team of developmental psychologists. A group of primary school teachers checked the wording of the items for suitability. The questionnaire contains 10 items. Respondents are asked to rate the degree to which each item is true about them on a three-point scale (1 = not true, 2 = sometimes true, 3 = often true). The internal consistency of this list is good among Dutch and UK populations (alpha > .80).
Jellesma, F., Meerum Terwogt, M., Reijntjes, A., Rieffe, C. & Stegge, H. (2005). De vragenlijst Non-Productieve Denkprocessen voor Kinderen (NPDK): Piekeren en Rumineren. Kind en Adolescent, 26, 368-378.
Miers, A.C., Rieffe, C., Meerum Terwogt, M., Cowan, R. & Linden, W. (2007). The relation between anger coping strategies, anger mood and somatic complaints in children and adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 653-664.
For validation of the questionnaire in Farsi:
Rieffe, C., Oosterveld, P., Meerum Terwogt, M., Novin, S., Nasiri, H., & Latifian, M. (2010). Relationship between alexithymia, mood and internalizing symptoms in children and young adolescents: Evidence from an Iranian sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 425-430.
You can download the Dutch version of the Non-Productive Thoughts Questionnaire here.