Cognitive Predictors of Obsessive–Compulsive Symptoms in Adolescence: A Preliminary Investigation

This study examined relations among responsibility attitudes, metacognitive beliefs, and obsessive–compulsive (O–C) symptoms in youth. One hundred sixty-six nonclinical youth (ages 13 to 17 years) completed the following: Responsibility Attitude Scale (RAS; Salkovskis et al., 2000); Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire–Adolescent Version (MCQ–A; Cartwright-Hatton et al., 2004); Children's Depression Inventory–Short Form (CDI–S; Kovacs, 1985); Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS; Reynolds & Richmond, 1978); the Leyton Obsessional Inventory–Child Version Survey Form (LOI–CVS; Berg, Whitaker, Davies, Flament, & Rapoport, 1988). Participants endorsed a range of responsibility and metacognitive beliefs, and both responsibility and metacognition were positively correlated with O–C symptoms. However, when age, sex, and depression were controlled, only metacognition was a predictor of O–C symptoms. The findings suggest metacognition and responsibility may be important correlates of O–C symptoms in youth.