Scholarlink

Background <p>The Epistemic Trust, Mistrust, and Credulity Questionnaire (ETMCQ) assesses individual differences in epistemic stances. Although widely used, its German translation has not yet undergone an independent psychometric evaluation.</p> Method <p>We administered the German ETMCQ to 567 university students and performed confirmatory factor analyses to compare the original 15-item model with several published modifications to further examine psychometric properties of the instrument. We assessed model fit, convergent validity, composite reliability, and internal consistency. Nomological validity was evaluated via latent correlations with attachment insecurity, ineffective mentalizing, emotion regulation, childhood maltreatment, and mental health symptoms.</p> Results <p>Neither the 15-item nor the 12-item models achieved acceptable fit. Across all models tested, average variance extracted values remained below 0.50, and composite reliabilities failed to reach Jöreskog’s rho <i>ρ</i> ≥ 0.70 for any of the three subscales. Internal consistency was marginally acceptable for the trust, mistrust, and credulity subscales. Nomological analyses revealed theory-consistent associations for mistrust and credulity but revealed weaker, divergent patterns for trust.</p> Conclusions <p>These findings highlight psychometric limitations in the current German version of the ETMCQ in this specific population. Before broader use, we recommend comprehensive item revision, multimethod validation, and cross-language invariance testing.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Replicability or revision? Further evidence on the psychometric quality of the German version of the epistemic trust, mistrust and credulity questionnaire

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月26日

查看全文
  • Nicola-Hans Schwarzer,
  • Nöelle Behringer,
  • Paula Dees,
  • Stephan Gingelmaier,
  • Melanie Henter,
  • Holger Kirsch,
  • Tillmann Kreuzer,
  • Robert Langnickel,
  • Pierre-Carl Link,
  • Sascha Müller,
  • Agnes Turner,
  • Tobias Nolte

摘要

Background

The Epistemic Trust, Mistrust, and Credulity Questionnaire (ETMCQ) assesses individual differences in epistemic stances. Although widely used, its German translation has not yet undergone an independent psychometric evaluation.

Method

We administered the German ETMCQ to 567 university students and performed confirmatory factor analyses to compare the original 15-item model with several published modifications to further examine psychometric properties of the instrument. We assessed model fit, convergent validity, composite reliability, and internal consistency. Nomological validity was evaluated via latent correlations with attachment insecurity, ineffective mentalizing, emotion regulation, childhood maltreatment, and mental health symptoms.

Results

Neither the 15-item nor the 12-item models achieved acceptable fit. Across all models tested, average variance extracted values remained below 0.50, and composite reliabilities failed to reach Jöreskog’s rho ρ ≥ 0.70 for any of the three subscales. Internal consistency was marginally acceptable for the trust, mistrust, and credulity subscales. Nomological analyses revealed theory-consistent associations for mistrust and credulity but revealed weaker, divergent patterns for trust.

Conclusions

These findings highlight psychometric limitations in the current German version of the ETMCQ in this specific population. Before broader use, we recommend comprehensive item revision, multimethod validation, and cross-language invariance testing.