L’objectif de cette étude était de présenter les propriétés psychométriques de l’Échelle de Distorsions Cognitives pour Adultes (EDC-A) ainsi que de repérer les distorsions cognitives mesurées par cette échelle et associées au niveau d’anxiété et de dépression. Notre étude a été menée auprès de 916 personnes (18–85 ans) issues de la population générale. Les participants ont répondu à l’EDC-A et à la Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). L’EDC-A présente une structure factorielle cohérente et chaque sous-dimension des distorsions obtient des alphas de Cronbach supérieurs à .65. L’anxiété et la dépression sont liées à la présence de distorsions cognitives dans le raisonnement. Les sujets dépressifs ont un répertoire de distorsions cognitives plus large que les anxieux. L’EDC-A a permis de repérer des différences dans le traitement de l’information entre l’anxiété et la dépression. La dépression est liée à un traitement biaisé global des informations négatives mais aussi positives, tandis que l’anxiété est liée à un traitement biaisé uniquement des informations négatives.

Cognitive distortions contribute to the maintenance of inappropriate cognitive schemas and play a role in the emergence of pathologies such as anxiety and depression. We developed the Cognitive Distortion Scale for Adults in order to identify distortions in individuals’ reasoning. The main objectives of this study were: (1) to study the psychometric properties of the Cognitive Distortion Scale for Adults, (2) to identify cognitive distortions associated with anxiety and depression in the general population.

The study involved 916 participants (151 men and 765 women) aged 18 to 85-years. The participants completed the Cognitive Distortion Scale for Adults. The tool presents 42 mini scenarios with a daily life situation and a proposition concerning a cognitive distortion. Participants must give their degree of agreement (0 to 10) with this one. Seven cognitive distortions are operationalized (dichotomous reasoning, disqualification of one of the poles, arbitrary focusing, omission of the neutral, requalification in the other pole, maximization and minimization). They also completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Both scales were available online on the Internet. The total duration of the test was approximately 10minutes. A group of 35 participants completed the two scale 15 days apart.

The sub-dimensions of EDC-A obtain Cronbach alphas higher than .65 and EDC-A has a coherent factor structure. The scale has good temporal stability. Anxiety is predicted by dichotomous reasoning, disqualification of one of the poles, arbitrary focusing and maximization. Depression is predicted by dichotomous reasoning, arbitrary focusing, omission of the neutral and requalification in the other pole. Anxiety and depression are associated with negative cognitive distortions in reasoning. However, depression is also associated with positive cognitive distortions. Subjects with depression produce more varied cognitive distortions than subjects with anxiety.

The Cognitive Distortion Scale for Adults shows promising psychometric properties. Further studies will need to be conducted to confirm these results. Anxiety would be related to biased information treatment of negative information, whereas depression would be related to more comprehensive biased information treatment, both negative and positive information. Anxiety would be related to suboptimal functioning of reasoning abilities; depression would be more characterized by a structural deficit of reasoning abilities.