Compensatory Cognitive Strategy Use by Young Adults: A Psychometric Evaluation of Self-Report Measures

This study examined the reliability and validity of scores from questionnaires assessing compensatory cognitive strategy use by young adults. Participants (N = 783; 79.6% women; 77.4% White; Age: M = 18.7 ± 0.9 years) completed the Compensatory Cognitive Strategies Scale (CCSS), Metamemory Questionnaire-Strategies (MMQ-S), Neuro-Quality of Life (Neuro-QoL) v2.0 Short Form-Cognitive Function, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Reliability estimates were acceptable for the CCSS (α = .85) and MMQ-S (α = .86) in the full sample and comparable in subsamples stratified by gender and self-reported mental health conditions. The CCSS and MMQ-S scores showed evidence for convergent validity (r range: .60 to .70) and discriminant validity in the full sample and subsamples (r with DERS range: .13 to .33). Greater compensatory strategy use had small-to-medium associations with greater subjective cognitive concerns on the Neuro-QOL for the full sample and subsamples (r range: -.19 to -.49). The CCSS and MMQ-S scores showed acceptable properties for use with young adults.