A Study On The Characteristics And Cognitive Attributions Of Adolescents With Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) are one of the common factors influencing mental health of adolescents. Adolescent obsessive-compulsive occurrence, development, diagnosis, treatment, and intervention have been studied from neurophysiology, psychology, and society. And many enviable results are obtained. However, the research of obsessive-compulsive problems is focused mainly on clinical community but not nonclinical community at present. Particularly it is found that there is no research about the causal correlation of OCS and cognitive beliefs.The logic of the study is from theory analysis to instrument designing, to measure implementation, then to relationship analysis. Based on the reviews, according to the relevant theories, the structures of OCS and obsessional beliefs of adolescents are designed. The Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Questionnaire of Adolescents (OCSQA) and the Obsessional Beliefs Questionnaire of Adolescents (OBQA) are devised. By means of these two scales, we have measured the students from Grade One of junior high school (Junior 1) to Grade Three of senior high school (Senior 3) in Sichuan province and Chongqing city. The data are handled by factor analysis, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and regression analysis, and the results confirm the structure of the scales. We discuss the developmental characteristics of adolescent OCS, and attribute OCS to cognition. The result shows:(1) The OCSQA devised has satisfying reliability and validity. The OCSQA dividesinto ten factors by factor analysis: cleaning, aggressive, ordering, counting, obsessing, repeating, sexual, checking, lucky symbols and hoarding.(2) The OBQA devised has satisfying reliability and validity. The OBQA divides into five factors by factor analysis: perfectionism, overimportance of thoughts, inflated responsibility, intolerance of uncertainty, and overestimation of threat.(3) The mean total score of OCSQA and the mean scores of aggressive, counting, repeating, sexual, and checking factors point to significant differences between males and females. Males show more OCS, aggressive, counting, repeating, sexual, and checking than females.(4) The mean total scores of OCSQA point to significant differences among six grades. It shows Junior l>Senior I>junior 2>Senior 3>Junior 3>Senior 2. And Junior 1, Senior 1, and Senior 3 are three critical grades.(5) Good middle schools show less repeating than common middle schools.(6) The mean total score of OCSQA and the mean scores of cleaning, counting, obsessing, repeating, sexual, checking and hoarding factors point to significant differences between towns and countries, and students of towns report less.(7) The mean scores of aggressive, sexual and hoarding factors point to significant differences among family structures. Students cared by others report more aggressive and sexual than students cared by parents. Students cared by Father or Mother show more hoarding than students cared by parents and students cared by others.(8) The mean total scores of OCSQA point to significant differences among ages. It shows 13>12>15>14>16>18>17, and 13 is a critical age. Elder students report more obsessions, and younger students report more compulsions.(9) OCS correlate significantly to obsessional beliefs, and obsessional beliefs relate more with high OCS than Low OCS. The level of obsessional beliefs reflects the degree of adolescent OCS. It shows that obsessional beliefs are important in generating and maintaining OCD.