Psychometric Properties of the Positive Meta-Cognitions and Meta-Emotions Questionnaire in Iranian athletes

Background: Meta-cognition refers to self-knowledge, control and monitoring of one’s thinking and emotional processes, such a meta-cognition, and meta-emotion which is consisted of: a) confidence in extinguishing perseverative thoughts and emotions; b) confidence in interpreting own emotions as cues, restraining from immediate reaction and mind-setting for problem-solving; c) confidence in setting flexible and feasible hierarchies of goals. This study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Positive Metacognitions and Positive Meta-Emotions Questionnaire (PMCEQ) in athletes. Methods: The sample consisted of 307 men and women athletes of 8 sport clubs in Jahrom city which were selected by cluster random sampling. The factor analyses showed the presence of a three-dimensional structure of PMCEQ which determine 47.24% of total variance explained of metacognition. Results: The positive meta-cognition differences were found based on gender, age, duration, and types of physical activities. There were significant correlations between PMCEQ and Metacognition Questionnaire-30, Sport Self-regulation, and Goal Orientation Questionnaires. Data were indicative of the acceptable level of Cronbach’s alpha (.83) and split-half (.86) reliability coefficients of positive meta-cognition and meta-emotion questionnaire totally. Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated substantial adequacy of this questionnaire to measure positive meta-cognition and meta-emotion in the domain of sport and physical activities.