PhD Scientific Days 2025

Mental Health Sciences III.

Validation of the Hungarian version of the Epistemic Trust, Mistrust, and Credulity Questionnaire (ETMCQ): An ESEM vs. CFA approach

Name of the presenter

Szabó Dominik

Institute/workplace of the presenter

Semmelweis University, Doctoral School, Mental Health Sciences Division, Budapest, Hungary

Authors

Dominik Szabó¹, Sándor Rózsa², Zsolt Szabolcs Unoka³

1: Semmelweis University, Doctoral School, Mental Health Sciences Division, Budapest, Hungary
2: Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Psychology Institute, Department of Personality and Health Psychology, Budapest, Hungary
3: Semmelweis University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Budapest, Hungary

Text of the abstract

Introduction: Epistemic trust, defined as trust in communicated knowledge, is gaining significant scientific attention, particularly within the field of personality disorders. Recently, a new self-report questionnaire, the ETMCQ, was developed to measure one adaptive (ie., Trust) and two maladaptive (ie., Mistrust and Credulity) epistemic stances.
Aims: The main objective of this study is to test the psychometric properties of the Hungarian version of the ETMCQ in a Hungarian community sample.
Method: The data collection started in March 2025 and will be finished in June 2025. The current sample after exclusions consists of 356 participants (61.80% female, mean age = 37.40 years, SD = 12.99 years). Along with the ETMCQ, the survey includes measures of adverse childhood experiences, mentalization, attachment, emotion dysregulation, general psychopathology symptoms, personality dysfunction, pathological personality traits, interpersonal traits, and borderline personality disorder symptoms.
Results: The three-factor ESEM model yielded a considerably better fit compared to the three-factor CFA model. The Trust and Credulity subscales showed acceptable internal consistency, while the Mistrust subscale had low internal consistency. Significant positive associations emerged between maladaptive epistemic stances (ie., Mistrust and Credulity) and adverse childhood experiences, impaired mentalization, attachment avoidance and anxiety, emotion dysregulation, general psychopathology symptoms, personality dysfunction, pathological personality traits, hostile and withdrawn interpersonal traits, and borderline personality disorder symptoms. As for the gender differences, women scored higher on both Trust and Credulity subscales.
Conclusion: Our results are in line with the findings of previous studies which indicates that the Hungarian version of the ETMCQ is a valid measure of the three epistemic stances. Future studies should examine the measure in clinical samples.
Funding: Supported by the 2024-2.1.1-EKÖP-2024-00004 University Research Scholarship Programme of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development, and Innovation Fund.