Subtype variations in metacognitive beliefs and automatic thoughts in adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder: A cross- sectional study
Psychiatry Research Communications, cilt.6, sa.2, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 6 Sayı: 2
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.psycom.2026.100264
- Dergi Adı: Psychiatry Research Communications
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Obsessive-compulsive disorder, Adolescent, Metacognition, Cognition, Psychiatric status rating scales
- Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
This cross-sectional study investigated whether metacognitive beliefs and automatic thoughts differ between adolescents with autogenous and reactive subtypes of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and healthy controls. Between December 2023 and June 2024, 66 adolescents aged 12-18 years with OCD were recruited from the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic of Bakirkoy Prof. Dr. Mazhar Osman Training and Research Hospital, Turkey, along with 32 matched healthy controls. Participants were classified into autogenous (n = 32) and reactive (n = 34) subtypes using the Children's Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS), which carries methodological constraints in capturing autogenous content. All participants completed the Metacognitions Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (MCQ-C) and the Children's Automatic Thoughts Scale (CATS). Adolescents with OCD demonstrated significantly higher negative metacognitive beliefs and automatic thoughts than controls, except for positive metacognitive beliefs. No significant differences emerged between subgroups on any metacognitive dimension or automatic thought scores, indicating that the primary hypothesis of subtype differentiation was largely unsupported. The only content-specific finding was that the autogenous group scored significantly higher than controls on the CATS physical threat subscale (ε2 = 0.07). Correlational analyses indicated that in the autogenous group, obsession severity was strongly associated with both negative metacognitive beliefs and automatic thoughts, whereas in the reactive group, compulsion severity showed a modest association with metacognitive beliefs. These findings suggest that adolescent OCD is characterized by shared cognitive and metacognitive mechanisms across subtypes.Instrument limitations, developmental variability within 12–18 age range, and the cross-sectional design should be considered when interpreting these results.