The development of the Negative Bias in Prospection Scale: A novel assessment of dysfunctional prospection in depression

Abstract

“Prospection” refers to the ability to mentally simulate one's future episodes. Negative bias in prospection, which includes both reduced positivity and enhanced negativity, is considered to be closely related to the development and maintenance of depression. However, there is a relative paucity of measures that adequately assess negative bias in prospection in depressed people. The current study developed and initially validated the Negative Bias in Prospection Scale (NBPS) using a nonclinical sample (n = 959). The validity and reliability of the NBPS were investigated in several ways. Results suggested the 14 NBPS items loaded onto three factors, namely the “Increased negativity,” the “Reduced positivity,” and the “Overgeneralization.” The NBPS demonstrated decent internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Further, the NBPS was strongly associated with severity of depressive symptoms. Moreover, the NBPS was correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with other measures of future‐oriented cognitions or negative biases. In conclusion, the NBPS has promising preliminary psychometric properties. It will be an efficient tool for exploring dysfunctional prospection in depression and provides a novel measure for mechanism of change in prospection‐based interventions.

The Relationships between Prospection, Self-Efficacy, and Depression in College Students with Cross-Lagged Analysis

“…At Time 1 (T1), a total of 388 participants completed all measurements. The exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) score on either lie detection item was greater than 4 (N = 14); (2) completion time was shorter than 157.65 s (2.5th percentile) (N = 11) [ 31 ]; (3) the response was “No” to the last question “Did you read each item carefully and answer it honestly?” (N = 9); (4) responses to the SCEFT were repetitive or omitted for more than half of items (N = 19). After this, 335 valid participants remained who were invited to complete the same on-line survey again 10 weeks later at Time 2 (T2).…”