Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ)

Abstract

The Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ) is a robust 20-item, self-report instrument developed to quantify an individual’s perceived capacity for Mentalizing—the ability to understand the internal Mental States of both oneself and others. Developed in parallel English and German versions, the CAMSQ employed a rigorous consensus-based approach and back-translation methodology to ensure precise conceptual equivalence across languages. The final structure, derived from empirical data collected in the United States and Germany, supports two primary subscales: Self-Certainty and Other-Certainty.

The development process included comprehensive psychometric evaluation, demonstrating high reliability, strong convergent and discriminant validity, and crucial cross-cultural Measurement Invariance between the U.S. and German samples. The authors recommend that future applications of the CAMSQ focus on exploring its utility within clinical populations and therapeutic settings where certainty about mental states may be compromised.

Keywords

Mentalizing, Mental States, Other-Certainty, Perceived Mentalizing Capacity, Self-Certainty, Other-Self Discrepancy.

Authors

Müller, Sascha, Wendt, Leon P., Zimmermann, Johannes.

Purpose

The CAMSQ serves as a dedicated self-report measure designed to gauge an individual’s subjective perception of their competence in Mentalizing. It specifically focuses on assessing the degree of certainty a person feels regarding their ability to accurately identify, interpret, and understand the internal Mental States (e.g., emotions, intentions, beliefs) pertaining to themselves and to others.

Construct

The psychological construct measured by the CAMSQ is Perceived Mentalizing Capacity, which is defined by two key dimensions of certainty regarding mental states:

• Self-Certainty: This subscale measures the extent to which an individual feels confident and certain about their own internal psychological processes, including knowing their true feelings, motivations, and thoughts.
• Other-Certainty: This subscale measures the extent to which an individual feels confident in their ability to accurately infer and understand the internal states, intentions, and perspectives of other individuals.

The instrument also allows for the calculation of an Other-Self Discrepancy score, which reflects the relative difference or imbalance in an individual’s perceived certainty when comparing their understanding of self versus their understanding of others.

Validity

The CAMSQ underwent extensive validation procedures, with correlational patterns demonstrating remarkable similarity across both the U.S. and German samples, confirming its cross-cultural consistency.

Convergent Validity: Strong evidence for convergent validity was established through correlations with related mentalizing measures. The Self-Certainty scale showed significant correlations with the Mentalization Scale (MentS), measures of reflective functioning, and the Mentalization Questionnaire (MZQ). Similarly, the Other-Certainty scale converged with the MentS Other subscale, which is focused on inferring the mental states of others.

Discriminant Validity: Both CAMSQ scales exhibited comparatively lower correlations with measures assessing the motivation to mentalize (e.g., MentS Motivation to Mentalize). This differentiation confirms good discriminant validity, indicating that the CAMSQ successfully measures the perceived capacity for Mentalizing, distinct from the motivation to engage in the process.

Reliability

The CAMSQ demonstrated excellent psychometric reliability, confirming the stable and consistent nature of its measurements across different samples.

Internal Consistency: Internal consistency, measured using omega (ω), was high for both subscales. For the Self-Certainty subscale, the ω values were .90 in the U.S. sample and .88 in the German sample. For the Other-Certainty subscale, consistency was equally high, with ω values of .91 in the U.S. sample and .89 in the German sample.

Test-Retest Reliability: High temporal stability was confirmed via test-retest correlations (rtt) over a 2-week interval (N=100). All three core scores showed strong consistency: Self-Certainty (rtt = .85), Other-Certainty (rtt = .78), and Other-Self-Discrepancy (rtt = .82).

Factor Analysis

The structural integrity of the CAMSQ was validated through comprehensive factor analytic techniques, confirming its two-factor structure.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): EFA confirmed that the item loadings clearly separated onto two distinct factors, accurately reflecting the intended constructs of Self-Certainty and Other-Certainty.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): CFA supported the tested measurement model in both the U.S. and German populations. Fit indices were robust across both samples (e.g., U.S. sample: CFI = .934, RMSEA = .054; German sample: CFI = .935, RMSEA = .049), demonstrating excellent model fit and supporting the final 20-item, two-subscale structure.

Measurement Invariance: Crucially, the analysis supported both metric (ΔCFI = −.002) and scalar (ΔCFI = −.010) Measurement Invariance between the two language groups. This means the CAMSQ operates equivalently across U.S. and German populations, allowing for reliable cross-cultural comparisons of perceived certainty about Mental States.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: The CAMSQ utilizes a 7-point Likert-type scale. Response options range from 1 ("never") to 7 ("always"). Administration is available in both electronic and paper formats.

Language Available: English, German

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older), encompassing Young Adulthood (18-29 years), Thirties (30-39 years), Middle Age (40-64 years), and Aged (65 years & older).

Population Details: Respondents were non-clinical adults residing in the United States and Germany.

Test Methodology: Test Validity, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Test-Retest Reliability, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Measurement Invariance.

Keywords

Mental States, Other-Certainty, Perceived Mentalizing Capacity, Self-Certainty, Other-Self Discrepancy, Psychological Assessment, Self-Report.

Authors

Müller, Sascha

• Author ORCID Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8663-4543
• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (University of Kassel, Department of Psychology)
• Correspondence Address: University of Kassel, Department of Psychology, Holländische Straße 36-38, Kassel, Germany, 34127.

Wendt, Leon P.

• Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (University of Kassel, Department of Psychology)

Zimmermann, Johannes

• Author ORCID Identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6975-2356
• Affiliation Email addresses: University of Kassel

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Corresponding Author.

Commercial Use: No

Fee: No

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Müller, S., Wendt, L. P., & Zimmermann, J. (2023). Development and validation of the Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ): A self-report measure of mentalizing oneself and others. Assessment, 30(3), 651–674. https://doi.org/10.1177/10731911211061280

Dimitrijević, A., Marić, M., & Lečić-Tosevski, D. (2018). The Mentalization Scale (MentS): A self-report measure of mentalizing.

Hausberg, J., Priebe, K., & Schauenburg, H. (2012). The Mentalization Questionnaire (MZQ): A self-report measure of mentalizing.

Items of the Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The CAMSQ includes 20 items, distributed across two subscales: Other-Certainty and Self-Certainty. The specific items are not provided in the original text, but the complete set of items can be found in the Appendix on page 670 of the source article. No data is Available.