The Structural Validity of the YSQ-S3 and the YSQ-R

Abstract: Major debates exist in the field of schema therapy regarding the self-report assessment of early maladaptive schemas (EMSs), largely centered around variations of the Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ). The current paper reports on three studies that aim to clarify the structural validity of the most widely used measure of EMSs in research – the Young Schema Questionnaire–Short Form Version 3 (YSQ-S3) – and to provide the first confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the YSQ-Revised (YSQ-R), designed to remedy issues of past self-report measures. Study 1 reports on a systematic review of item-level CFAs of the YSQ-S3. After identifying the most commonly tested factor structures in Study 1, Study 2 reports an item-level CFA ( N = 995) in which these commonly tested models are evaluated and compared. Study 3 reports on the first item-level CFA on the YSQ-R ( N = 873) using the model structures tested in Study 2. Both studies recruited community samples. The findings across all three studies demonstrate that, irrespective of the structure modeled, both the YSQ-S3 and the YSQ-R evidence model misfit. The findings suggest that the field of schema therapy reconsider either the items that constitute these measures or revisit the conceptualization of EMSs as articulated within the schema therapy model.