Accurate psychometrics benefit from assessing given constructs within specifically defined contexts. The assessment of context-specific irrational beliefs as put forth in rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT), under the three basic psychological needs described in self-determination theory (SDT), represents a new path for research. Under the umbrella of ‘positive psychology’, a new scale for adolescents combining REBT and SDT is the first step towards conceptualizing irrational beliefs within the three basic psychological needs. The integration of REBT and SDT would provide a more fully integrated view of adolescent mental health, and as such could provide a more cost-effective approach for preventing cognitive, emotive and behavioural disturbances in young people.

The main aim of this paper is to outline the development and validation of the Rational Emotive Self Determination Scale for Adolescents (RESD-A), which measures irrational beliefs about the three basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness).

To achieve this main study aim, we report the results of four studies that test the factor structure, internal consistency, construct, predictive validity, and test–re-test reliability of the 51-item RESD-A, within samples of Turkish adolescents.

Data analyses confirmed the theoretical expectations and yielded promising results for the validity and reliability of the RESD-A.

The results suggest that assessment of irrational beliefs in the context of autonomy, competence and relatedness is possible and valuable for the treatment of adolescents.

The cognitive restructuring of maladaptive beliefs within many cognitive behavioural psychotherapies typically encourages the client to undertake self-reflection. However, whilst self-consciousness can aid self-regulation, it is also implicated in a broad Grange of psychopathologies. The extent to which self-consciousness is associated with psychological distress is yet to be fully determined, but recent literature suggests that irrational beliefs, as proposed within rational emotive behaviour theory (REBT) may play an important role.

The aim of the study was to test the mediational effects of self-consciousness, specifically reflection and rumination, on the relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress. Based on past research, it was hypothesized that reflection and rumination would mediate the positive relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress. We expected irrational beliefs to interact with rumination to positively predict psychological distress, and irrational beliefs to interact with reflection to negatively predict psychological distress.

The present research tested a structural equation model (SEM) in which rumination and reflection mediated the relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress.

Results indicated that rumination mediates the positive relationship between irrational beliefs and psychological distress. However, in contrast to our hypotheses, significant mediation did not emerge for reflection.

This study is the first to show how irrational beliefs and rumination interact to predict psychopathology using advanced statistical techniques. However, future research is needed to determine whether similar mediational effects are evident with rational beliefs as opposed to irrational beliefs.