Assessment of Early Maladaptive Schemas: A Psychometric Study of the Turkish Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form-3

Objective: Schemas are generally assumed to develop as a result of early experiences with attachment figures. Within this theoretical framework Young et al. (1991, 2003) developed a schema questionnaire to evaluate early maladaptive schemas. The aim of the present study was to preliminarily establish the psychometric validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form-3. Method: University students from different departments participated in the study. According to phases of psychometric examinations, the number of participants differed in a range of N = 150-1071. Results: Principal components analysis with equamax rotation was carried out and 14 definable factor structures emerged. Higher-order factor analysis supported 5 schema domains: Impaired autonomy, disconnection, unrelenting standards, other-directedness, and impaired limits. Test-retest and internal consistency analysis revealed statistically significant correlation coefficients, which con be interpreted as evidence of the reliability. As to convergent validity, correlational analysis of theoretically-related variables (SCL-90-R) showed statistically significant coefficients and the direction of the relationships were congruent with theoretical expectations. Furthermore, in a pilot study, we examined the discriminant validity of the scale. Accordingly, t-test analysis that compared the YSQ-subscole scores of clinical and normal populations yielded statistically significant differences in some schemas and schema domains. Conclusion: As preliminary evidence, our findings show that the factor structure of the Turkish YSQ-SF3 is generally consistent with previous studies and that it has acceptable levels of reliability and validity.