what is critical thinking disposition scale

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A critical thinking disposition scale for nurses: short form

Affiliation.

1 Department of Nursing, Chung Hwa University of Medical Technology, Tainan, Taiwan.
PMID: 21040020
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03343.x

Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to test the Chinese version of the Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTDI-CV) among nurses in Taiwan.

Background: Critical thinking is the use of purposeful self-regulatory judgments to identify patient's problems and provide patient care. Critical thinking influences nurses' decision making. To date, no inventory to understand nurse's critical thinking disposition has been developed.

Design: This was a survey design with a stratified random sampling to test the reliability and validity of the CTDI-CV.

Methods: The participants comprised 864 registered nurses who were chosen by stratified random sampling from seven hospitals in Taiwan. Data were collected through self-administered structured questionnaires.

Results: A new scale, short form (SF) CTDI-CV, contains 18 items with three subscales: 'systematic analysis', 'thinking within the box' and 'thinking out of the box', was generated from the analysis with 44% explained variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficients and intra-class correlation coefficients for overall and subscale were above 0.8. Goodness-of-fit test for the final model of SF-CTDI-CV revealed an acceptable result in the overall fit (χ(2)/df = 4.04, p < 0.05, GFI = 0.93, AGFI = 0.91, SRMR = 0.076, RMSEA = 0.059).

Conclusion: On the basis of these results, the SF-CTDI-CV is a reliable instrument for assessing critical thinking disposition for nurses.

Relevance to clinical practice: A short and valid critical thinking instrument for nurses will facilitate critical thinking research in the clinical practice arena. When designing continuing education activities, clinical educators will be able to efficiently and effectively evaluate the quality of critical thinking among practicing nurses.

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How Do Critical Thinking Ability and Critical Thinking Disposition Relate to the Mental Health of University Students?

Associated data.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Theories of psychotherapy suggest that human mental problems associate with deficiencies in critical thinking. However, it currently remains unclear whether both critical thinking skill and critical thinking disposition relate to individual differences in mental health. This study explored whether and how the critical thinking ability and critical thinking disposition of university students associate with individual differences in mental health in considering impulsivity that has been revealed to be closely related to both critical thinking and mental health. Regression and structural equation modeling analyses based on a Chinese university student sample ( N = 314, 198 females, M age = 18.65) revealed that critical thinking skill and disposition explained a unique variance of mental health after controlling for impulsivity. Furthermore, the relationship between critical thinking and mental health was mediated by motor impulsivity (acting on the spur of the moment) and non-planning impulsivity (making decisions without careful forethought). These findings provide a preliminary account of how human critical thinking associate with mental health. Practically, developing mental health promotion programs for university students is suggested to pay special attention to cultivating their critical thinking dispositions and enhancing their control over impulsive behavior.

Introduction

Although there is no consistent definition of critical thinking (CT), it is usually described as “purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanations of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations that judgment is based upon” (Facione, 1990 , p. 2). This suggests that CT is a combination of skills and dispositions. The skill aspect mainly refers to higher-order cognitive skills such as inference, analysis, and evaluation, while the disposition aspect represents one's consistent motivation and willingness to use CT skills (Dwyer, 2017 ). An increasing number of studies have indicated that CT plays crucial roles in the activities of university students such as their academic performance (e.g., Ghanizadeh, 2017 ; Ren et al., 2020 ), professional work (e.g., Barry et al., 2020 ), and even the ability to cope with life events (e.g., Butler et al., 2017 ). An area that has received less attention is how critical thinking relates to impulsivity and mental health. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between CT (which included both CT skill and CT disposition), impulsivity, and mental health among university students.

Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Mental Health

Associating critical thinking with mental health is not without reason, since theories of psychotherapy have long stressed a linkage between mental problems and dysfunctional thinking (Gilbert, 2003 ; Gambrill, 2005 ; Cuijpers, 2019 ). Proponents of cognitive behavioral therapy suggest that the interpretation by people of a situation affects their emotional, behavioral, and physiological reactions. Those with mental problems are inclined to bias or heuristic thinking and are more likely to misinterpret neutral or even positive situations (Hollon and Beck, 2013 ). Therefore, a main goal of cognitive behavioral therapy is to overcome biased thinking and change maladaptive beliefs via cognitive modification skills such as objective understanding of one's cognitive distortions, analyzing evidence for and against one's automatic thinking, or testing the effect of an alternative way of thinking. Achieving these therapeutic goals requires the involvement of critical thinking, such as the willingness and ability to critically analyze one's thoughts and evaluate evidence and arguments independently of one's prior beliefs. In addition to theoretical underpinnings, characteristics of university students also suggest a relationship between CT and mental health. University students are a risky population in terms of mental health. They face many normative transitions (e.g., social and romantic relationships, important exams, financial pressures), which are stressful (Duffy et al., 2019 ). In particular, the risk increases when students experience academic failure (Lee et al., 2008 ; Mamun et al., 2021 ). Hong et al. ( 2010 ) found that the stress in Chinese college students was primarily related to academic, personal, and negative life events. However, university students are also a population with many resources to work on. Critical thinking can be considered one of the important resources that students are able to use (Stupple et al., 2017 ). Both CT skills and CT disposition are valuable qualities for college students to possess (Facione, 1990 ). There is evidence showing that students with a higher level of CT are more successful in terms of academic performance (Ghanizadeh, 2017 ; Ren et al., 2020 ), and that they are better at coping with stressful events (Butler et al., 2017 ). This suggests that that students with higher CT are less likely to suffer from mental problems.

Empirical research has reported an association between CT and mental health among college students (Suliman and Halabi, 2007 ; Kargar et al., 2013 ; Yoshinori and Marcus, 2013 ; Chen and Hwang, 2020 ; Ugwuozor et al., 2021 ). Most of these studies focused on the relationship between CT disposition and mental health. For example, Suliman and Halabi ( 2007 ) reported that the CT disposition of nursing students was positively correlated with their self-esteem, but was negatively correlated with their state anxiety. There is also a research study demonstrating that CT disposition influenced the intensity of worry in college students either by increasing their responsibility to continue thinking or by enhancing the detached awareness of negative thoughts (Yoshinori and Marcus, 2013 ). Regarding the relationship between CT ability and mental health, although there has been no direct evidence, there were educational programs examining the effect of teaching CT skills on the mental health of adolescents (Kargar et al., 2013 ). The results showed that teaching CT skills decreased somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, and insomnia in adolescents. Another recent CT skill intervention also found a significant reduction in mental stress among university students, suggesting an association between CT skills and mental health (Ugwuozor et al., 2021 ).

The above research provides preliminary evidence in favor of the relationship between CT and mental health, in line with theories of CT and psychotherapy. However, previous studies have focused solely on the disposition aspect of CT, and its link with mental health. The ability aspect of CT has been largely overlooked in examining its relationship with mental health. Moreover, although the link between CT and mental health has been reported, it remains unknown how CT (including skill and disposition) is associated with mental health.

Impulsivity as a Potential Mediator Between Critical Thinking and Mental Health

One important factor suggested by previous research in accounting for the relationship between CT and mental health is impulsivity. Impulsivity is recognized as a pattern of action without regard to consequences. Patton et al. ( 1995 ) proposed that impulsivity is a multi-faceted construct that consists of three behavioral factors, namely, non-planning impulsiveness, referring to making a decision without careful forethought; motor impulsiveness, referring to acting on the spur of the moment; and attentional impulsiveness, referring to one's inability to focus on the task at hand. Impulsivity is prominent in clinical problems associated with psychiatric disorders (Fortgang et al., 2016 ). A number of mental problems are associated with increased impulsivity that is likely to aggravate clinical illnesses (Leclair et al., 2020 ). Moreover, a lack of CT is correlated with poor impulse control (Franco et al., 2017 ). Applications of CT may reduce impulsive behaviors caused by heuristic and biased thinking when one makes a decision (West et al., 2008 ). For example, Gregory ( 1991 ) suggested that CT skills enhance the ability of children to anticipate the health or safety consequences of a decision. Given this, those with high levels of CT are expected to take a rigorous attitude about the consequences of actions and are less likely to engage in impulsive behaviors, which may place them at a low risk of suffering mental problems. To the knowledge of the authors, no study has empirically tested whether impulsivity accounts for the relationship between CT and mental health.

This study examined whether CT skill and disposition are related to the mental health of university students; and if yes, how the relationship works. First, we examined the simultaneous effects of CT ability and CT disposition on mental health. Second, we further tested whether impulsivity mediated the effects of CT on mental health. To achieve the goals, we collected data on CT ability, CT disposition, mental health, and impulsivity from a sample of university students. The results are expected to shed light on the mechanism of the association between CT and mental health.

Participants and Procedure

A total of 314 university students (116 men) with an average age of 18.65 years ( SD = 0.67) participated in this study. They were recruited by advertisements from a local university in central China and majoring in statistics and mathematical finance. The study protocol was approved by the Human Subjects Review Committee of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Each participant signed a written informed consent describing the study purpose, procedure, and right of free. All the measures were administered in a computer room. The participants were tested in groups of 20–30 by two research assistants. The researchers and research assistants had no formal connections with the participants. The testing included two sections with an interval of 10 min, so that the participants had an opportunity to take a break. In the first section, the participants completed the syllogistic reasoning problems with belief bias (SRPBB), the Chinese version of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCSTS-CV), and the Chinese Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), respectively. In the second session, they completed the Barrett Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and University Personality Inventory (UPI) in the given order.

Measures of Critical Thinking Ability

The Chinese version of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test was employed to measure CT skills (Lin, 2018 ). The CCTST is currently the most cited tool for measuring CT skills and includes analysis, assessment, deduction, inductive reasoning, and inference reasoning. The Chinese version included 34 multiple choice items. The dependent variable was the number of correctly answered items. The internal consistency (Cronbach's α) of the CCTST is 0.56 (Jacobs, 1995 ). The test–retest reliability of CCTST-CV is 0.63 ( p < 0.01) (Luo and Yang, 2002 ), and correlations between scores of the subscales and the total score are larger than 0.5 (Lin, 2018 ), supporting the construct validity of the scale. In this study among the university students, the internal consistency (Cronbach's α) of the CCTST-CV was 0.5.

The second critical thinking test employed in this study was adapted from the belief bias paradigm (Li et al., 2021 ). This task paradigm measures the ability to evaluate evidence and arguments independently of one's prior beliefs (West et al., 2008 ), which is a strongly emphasized skill in CT literature. The current test included 20 syllogistic reasoning problems in which the logical conclusion was inconsistent with one's prior knowledge (e.g., “Premise 1: All fruits are sweet. Premise 2: Bananas are not sweet. Conclusion: Bananas are not fruits.” valid conclusion). In addition, four non-conflict items were included as the neutral condition in order to avoid a habitual response from the participants. They were instructed to suppose that all the premises are true and to decide whether the conclusion logically follows from the given premises. The measure showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.83) in a Chinese sample (Li et al., 2021 ). In this study, the internal consistency (Cronbach's α) of the SRPBB was 0.94.

Measures of Critical Thinking Disposition

The Chinese Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory was employed to measure CT disposition (Peng et al., 2004 ). This scale has been developed in line with the conceptual framework of the California critical thinking disposition inventory. We measured five CT dispositions: truth-seeking (one's objectivity with findings even if this requires changing one's preconceived opinions, e.g., a person inclined toward being truth-seeking might disagree with “I believe what I want to believe.”), inquisitiveness (one's intellectual curiosity. e.g., “No matter what the topic, I am eager to know more about it”), analyticity (the tendency to use reasoning and evidence to solve problems, e.g., “It bothers me when people rely on weak arguments to defend good ideas”), systematically (the disposition of being organized and orderly in inquiry, e.g., “I always focus on the question before I attempt to answer it”), and CT self-confidence (the trust one places in one's own reasoning processes, e.g., “I appreciate my ability to think precisely”). Each disposition aspect contained 10 items, which the participants rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale. This measure has shown high internal consistency (overall Cronbach's α = 0.9) (Peng et al., 2004 ). In this study, the CCTDI scale was assessed at Cronbach's α = 0.89, indicating good reliability.

Measure of Impulsivity

The well-known Barrett Impulsivity Scale (Patton et al., 1995 ) was employed to assess three facets of impulsivity: non-planning impulsivity (e.g., “I plan tasks carefully”); motor impulsivity (e.g., “I act on the spur of the moment”); attentional impulsivity (e.g., “I concentrate easily”). The scale includes 30 statements, and each statement is rated on a 5-point scale. The subscales of non-planning impulsivity and attentional impulsivity were reversely scored. The BIS-11 has good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.81, Velotti et al., 2016 ). This study showed that the Cronbach's α of the BIS-11 was 0.83.

Measures of Mental Health

The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 was used to assess mental health problems such as depression (e.g., “I feel that life is meaningless”), anxiety (e.g., “I find myself getting agitated”), and stress (e.g., “I find it difficult to relax”). Each dimension included seven items, which the participants were asked to rate on a 4-point scale. The Chinese version of the DASS-21 has displayed a satisfactory factor structure and internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.92, Wang et al., 2016 ). In this study, the internal consistency (Cronbach's α) of the DASS-21 was 0.94.

The University Personality Inventory that has been commonly used to screen for mental problems of college students (Yoshida et al., 1998 ) was also used for measuring mental health. The 56 symptom-items assessed whether an individual has experienced the described symptom during the past year (e.g., “a lack of interest in anything”). The UPI showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.92) in a Chinese sample (Zhang et al., 2015 ). This study showed that the Cronbach's α of the UPI was 0.85.

Statistical Analyses

We first performed analyses to detect outliers. Any observation exceeding three standard deviations from the means was replaced with a value that was three standard deviations. This procedure affected no more than 5‰ of observations. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to determine the extent to which facets of critical thinking were related to mental health. In addition, structural equation modeling with Amos 22.0 was performed to assess the latent relationship between CT, impulsivity, and mental health.

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlations

Table 1 presents descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations of all the variables. CT disposition such as truth-seeking, systematicity, self-confidence, and inquisitiveness was significantly correlated with DASS-21 and UPI, but neither CCTST-CV nor SRPBB was related to DASS-21 and UPI. Subscales of BIS-11 were positively correlated with DASS-21 and UPI, but were negatively associated with CT dispositions.

Descriptive results and correlations between all measured variables ( N = 314).


	20.13	3.30	28.00	8.00	−
	11.70	6.44	20.00	0	0.33	−

3. Truth seeking	41.08	5.26	58.00	19.00	0.07	0.11	−
4. Analyticity	43.58	5.04	56.00	24.00	0.10	0.13	0.21	−
5.Systematically	40.71	5.82	59.00	20.00	0.05	0.08	0.50	0.56	−
6. Self-confidence	39.86	6.38	59.00	26.00	0.13	0.16	0.19	0.64	0.58	−
7. Inquisitiveness	46.35	5.81	60.00	33.00	0.08	0.04	0.18	0.63	0.58	0.64	−

8. Attentional	23.97	4.57	37.00	10.00	−0.19	−028	−023	−036	−040	−043	−035	−
9. Non-planning	24.59	4.87	39.00	10.00	−004	−006	−022	−034	−045	−037	−035	0.67	−
10. Motor	24.13	4.80	43.00	12.00	−010	−016	−026	−025	−032	−023	−020	0.33	0.25	−
	16.13	10.10	58.00	0	−009	−002	−018	−011	−020	−015	−012	0.14	0.21	0.35	−
	9.13	6.75	34.00	0	−002	−008	−030	−013	−034	−014	−014	0.12	0.19	0.21	0.34

Regression Analyses

Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects of CT skill and disposition on mental health. Before conducting the analyses, scores in DASS-21 and UPI were reversed so that high scores reflected high levels of mental health. Table 2 presents the results of hierarchical regression. In model 1, the sum of the Z-score of DASS-21 and UPI served as the dependent variable. Scores in the CT ability tests and scores in the five dimensions of CCTDI served as predictors. CT skill and disposition explained 13% of the variance in mental health. CT skills did not significantly predict mental health. Two dimensions of dispositions (truth seeking and systematicity) exerted significantly positive effects on mental health. Model 2 examined whether CT predicted mental health after controlling for impulsivity. The model containing only impulsivity scores (see model-2 step 1 in Table 2 ) explained 15% of the variance in mental health. Non-planning impulsivity and motor impulsivity showed significantly negative effects on mental health. The CT variables on the second step explained a significantly unique variance (6%) of CT (see model-2 step 2). This suggests that CT skill and disposition together explained the unique variance in mental health after controlling for impulsivity. 1

Hierarchical regression models predicting mental health from critical thinking skills, critical thinking dispositions, and impulsivity ( N = 314).




1. CCTST-CV	0.02		0.02
2. SRPBB	0.02		0.02

1. Truth seeking	0.17		0.14
2. Analyticity	−005		−008
3. Systematically	0.26		0.18
4. Self-confidence	0.02		0.02
5. Inquisitiveness	0.00		0.00

1. Attentional impulsivity		0.11	0.14
2. Non-planning impulsivity		−024	−018
3. Motor impulsivity		−032	−026
	= 0.13	= 0.15	Δ = 0.06
	= 6.72	= 18.59	= 7.96

CCTST-CV, The Chinese version of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test; SRPBB, Syllogistic Reasoning Problems with Belief Bias .

Structural equation modeling was performed to examine whether impulsivity mediated the relationship between CT disposition (CT ability was not included since it did not significantly predict mental health) and mental health. Since the regression results showed that only motor impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity significantly predicted mental health, we examined two mediation models with either motor impulsivity or non-planning impulsivity as the hypothesized mediator. The item scores in the motor impulsivity subscale were randomly divided into two indicators of motor impulsivity, as were the scores in the non-planning subscale. Scores of DASS-21 and UPI served as indicators of mental health and dimensions of CCTDI as indicators of CT disposition. In addition, a bootstrapping procedure with 5,000 resamples was established to test for direct and indirect effects. Amos 22.0 was used for the above analyses.

The mediation model that included motor impulsivity (see Figure 1 ) showed an acceptable fit, χ ( 23 ) 2 = 64.71, RMSEA = 0.076, CFI = 0.96, GFI = 0.96, NNFI = 0.93, SRMR = 0.073. Mediation analyses indicated that the 95% boot confidence intervals of the indirect effect and the direct effect were (0.07, 0.26) and (−0.08, 0.32), respectively. As Hayes ( 2009 ) indicates, an effect is significant if zero is not between the lower and upper bounds in the 95% confidence interval. Accordingly, the indirect effect between CT disposition and mental health was significant, while the direct effect was not significant. Thus, motor impulsivity completely mediated the relationship between CT disposition and mental health.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is fpsyg-12-704229-g0001.jpg

Illustration of the mediation model: Motor impulsivity as mediator variable between critical thinking dispositions and mental health. CTD-l = Truth seeking; CTD-2 = Analyticity; CTD-3 = Systematically; CTD-4 = Self-confidence; CTD-5 = Inquisitiveness. MI-I and MI-2 were sub-scores of motor impulsivity. Solid line represents significant links and dotted line non-significant links. ** p < 0.01.

The mediation model, which included non-planning impulsivity (see Figure 2 ), also showed an acceptable fit to the data, χ ( 23 ) 2 = 52.75, RMSEA = 0.064, CFI = 0.97, GFI = 0.97, NNFI = 0.95, SRMR = 0.06. The 95% boot confidence intervals of the indirect effect and the direct effect were (0.05, 0.33) and (−0.04, 0.38), respectively, indicating that non-planning impulsivity completely mediated the relationship between CT disposition and mental health.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is fpsyg-12-704229-g0002.jpg

Illustration of the mediation model: Non-planning impulsivity asmediator variable between critical thinking dispositions and mental health. CTD-l = Truth seeking; CTD-2 = Analyticity; CTD-3 = Systematically; CTD-4 = Self-confidence; CTD-5 = Inquisitiveness. NI-I and NI-2 were sub-scores of Non-planning impulsivity. Solid line represents significant links and dotted line non-significant links. ** p < 0.01.

This study examined how critical thinking skill and disposition are related to mental health. Theories of psychotherapy suggest that human mental problems are in part due to a lack of CT. However, empirical evidence for the hypothesized relationship between CT and mental health is relatively scarce. This study explored whether and how CT ability and disposition are associated with mental health. The results, based on a university student sample, indicated that CT skill and disposition explained a unique variance in mental health. Furthermore, the effect of CT disposition on mental health was mediated by motor impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity. The finding that CT exerted a significant effect on mental health was in accordance with previous studies reporting negative correlations between CT disposition and mental disorders such as anxiety (Suliman and Halabi, 2007 ). One reason lies in the assumption that CT disposition is usually referred to as personality traits or habits of mind that are a remarkable predictor of mental health (e.g., Benzi et al., 2019 ). This study further found that of the five CT dispositions, only truth-seeking and systematicity were associated with individual differences in mental health. This was not surprising, since the truth-seeking items mainly assess one's inclination to crave for the best knowledge in a given context and to reflect more about additional facts, reasons, or opinions, even if this requires changing one's mind about certain issues. The systematicity items target one's disposition to approach problems in an orderly and focused way. Individuals with high levels of truth-seeking and systematicity are more likely to adopt a comprehensive, reflective, and controlled way of thinking, which is what cognitive therapy aims to achieve by shifting from an automatic mode of processing to a more reflective and controlled mode.

Another important finding was that motor impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity mediated the effect of CT disposition on mental health. The reason may be that people lacking CT have less willingness to enter into a systematically analyzing process or deliberative decision-making process, resulting in more frequently rash behaviors or unplanned actions without regard for consequences (Billieux et al., 2010 ; Franco et al., 2017 ). Such responses can potentially have tangible negative consequences (e.g., conflict, aggression, addiction) that may lead to social maladjustment that is regarded as a symptom of mental illness. On the contrary, critical thinkers have a sense of deliberativeness and consider alternate consequences before acting, and this thinking-before-acting mode would logically lead to a decrease in impulsivity, which then decreases the likelihood of problematic behaviors and negative moods.

It should be noted that although the raw correlation between attentional impulsivity and mental health was significant, regression analyses with the three dimensions of impulsivity as predictors showed that attentional impulsivity no longer exerted a significant effect on mental effect after controlling for the other impulsivity dimensions. The insignificance of this effect suggests that the significant raw correlation between attentional impulsivity and mental health was due to the variance it shared with the other impulsivity dimensions (especially with the non-planning dimension, which showed a moderately high correlation with attentional impulsivity, r = 0.67).

Some limitations of this study need to be mentioned. First, the sample involved in this study is considered as a limited sample pool, since all the participants are university students enrolled in statistics and mathematical finance, limiting the generalization of the findings. Future studies are recommended to recruit a more representative sample of university students. A study on generalization to a clinical sample is also recommended. Second, as this study was cross-sectional in nature, caution must be taken in interpreting the findings as causal. Further studies using longitudinal, controlled designs are needed to assess the effectiveness of CT intervention on mental health.

In spite of the limitations mentioned above, the findings of this study have some implications for research and practice intervention. The result that CT contributed to individual differences in mental health provides empirical support for the theory of cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on changing irrational thoughts. The mediating role of impulsivity between CT and mental health gives a preliminary account of the mechanism of how CT is associated with mental health. Practically, although there is evidence that CT disposition of students improves because of teaching or training interventions (e.g., Profetto-Mcgrath, 2005 ; Sanja and Krstivoje, 2015 ; Chan, 2019 ), the results showing that two CT disposition dimensions, namely, truth-seeking and systematicity, are related to mental health further suggest that special attention should be paid to cultivating these specific CT dispositions so as to enhance the control of students over impulsive behaviors in their mental health promotions.

Conclusions

This study revealed that two CT dispositions, truth-seeking and systematicity, were associated with individual differences in mental health. Furthermore, the relationship between critical thinking and mental health was mediated by motor impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity. These findings provide a preliminary account of how human critical thinking is associated with mental health. Practically, developing mental health promotion programs for university students is suggested to pay special attention to cultivating their critical thinking dispositions (especially truth-seeking and systematicity) and enhancing the control of individuals over impulsive behaviors.

Data Availability Statement

Ethics statement.

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by HUST Critical Thinking Research Center (Grant No. 2018CT012). The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

XR designed the study and revised the manuscript. ZL collected data and wrote the manuscript. SL assisted in analyzing the data. SS assisted in re-drafting and editing the manuscript. All the authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

1 We re-analyzed the data by controlling for age and gender of the participants in the regression analyses. The results were virtually the same as those reported in the study.

Funding. This work was supported by the Social Science Foundation of China (grant number: BBA200034).

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Critical Thinking Dispositions

Working with students and educators to develop a new scale..

Posted September 11, 2020

Critical thinking (CT) skills and dispositions are increasingly valued in modern society, largely because these skills and dispositions support reasoning and problem-solving in real-world settings (Butler et al., 2012; Halpern, 2013). Historically, CT skills including analysis, evaluation and inference have been extensively researched, and there are a number of instruments available to measure these skills. However, CT dispositions have been somewhat neglected by researchers. Indeed, it’s not easy to find reliable and valid scales to measure CT dispositions.

In broad terms, CT dispositions refer to an inclination, tendency or willingness to perform specific thinking skills. Currently, the only measures of CT dispositions available are the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI; Facione & Facione, 1992) and the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS; Sosu, 2013). The authors of the CCTDI generated a set of items that were assumed to measure seven CT dispositions: Inquisitiveness, Maturity, Self-Confidence , Open-Mindedness, Truth-Seeking, Analyticity, and Systematicity. However, researchers have questioned the reliability and validity of the scale (Walsh, Seldomridge & Badros, 2007). The CCTDI is also a proprietary scale, and in addition to having to pay to use the scale, researchers are not provided with a scoring key indicating which items pertain to which factors.

This is deeply unfortunate, not only for researchers seeking transparency but also for educators who have limited or no funds to support intervention and evaluation work in the classroom. Responding to analytical problems associated with the use of CCTDI, Sosu (2013) developed the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS). This is a two-factor, 11-item instrument, measuring two core CT dispositions: critical openness and reflective scepticism. Initial evaluations suggest the scale has good internal consistency and convergent validity.

The limited availability of reliable and valid CT disposition measures is problematic. Notably, CT is an important outcome of education , with many universities now providing instructional CT courses, which have the potential to support the development of CT skills and CT dispositions. Having access to reliable and valid measures of CT dispositions is vital as it allows for the evaluation of curricula and can be used to inform the iterative design of CT training programmes.

Therefore, we recently set out to develop and evaluate a new measure of CT dispositions . Importantly, the Student-Educator Negotiated CT Dispositions Scale (SENCTDS) is grounded in intensive collective intelligence deliberations involving students and educators, who worked together to develop a consensus-based model of CT dispositions (Dwyer et al., 2016). We also followed the principles of scale design advocated by DeVellis (2012) – we generated CT disposition scale items derived from our collective intelligence work, made modifications to scale items based on expert feedback, performed both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to identify scale factors, and evaluated the validity of the scale. Part of the validity evaluation involved the analysis of predictive relationships between SENCTDS factors and paranormal and conspiracy beliefs, which were hypothesised based on previous research to be negatively related to CT dispositions. So what did we find?

First, collective intelligence work revealed 13 CT dispositions that students and educators considered important. The 13 CT dispositions are listed and defined below.

An inclination to reflect on one’s behaviour, attitudes, opinions, and motivations; distinguishing what is known and what is unknown, recognising limited knowledge or uncertainty; approaching decision-making with an awareness that some problems are ill-structured, some situations permit more than one plausible conclusion or solution, and good judgment is based on analysis and evaluation, and depends on feasibility, standards, contexts, and available evidence.

Open-Mindedness

An inclination to be cognitively flexible and avoid rigidity in thinking; to tolerate divergent or conflicting views and consider all viewpoints; to detach from one’s own beliefs and consider points of view other to one’s own without bias or self-interest; to be open to feedback by accepting positive feedback and not rejecting criticism or constructive feedback without thoughtful consideration; to amend existing knowledge in light of new ideas and experiences.

Self-Efficacy

The tendency to be confident and trust in one’s own reasoned judgments; to acknowledging one’s sense of self while considering problems and arguments (i.e. life experiences, knowledge, biases, culture, and environment); to be confident and believe in one’s ability to assimilate feedback positively and constructively; to be self-efficacious in leading others in the rational resolution of problems; and to recognise that good reasoning is the key to living a rational life and to creating a more just world.

Truth-Seeking

To have a desire for knowledge; to seek and offer both reasons and objections in an effort to inform and be well-informed; a willingness to challenge popular beliefs and social norms by asking questions (of oneself and others); to be honest and objective about pursuing the truth even if findings do not support one’s self-interest or pre-conceived beliefs; and to change one’s mind about an idea as a result of the desire for truth.

what is critical thinking disposition scale

Organisation

An inclination to be orderly, systematic and diligent with information, resources, and time when working on a task or addressing a problem, with awareness of the broader context supporting the maintenance of organised activity.

Resourcefulness

The willingness to utilise existing internal resources to resolve problems; search for additional external resources in order to resolve problems; to switch between solution processes and/or knowledge to seek new ways/information to solve a problem; to make the best of the resources available; to adapt and/or improve if something goes wrong; and to think about how and why it went wrong.

Inclination to challenge ideas; to withhold judgment in advance of engaging all the evidence or when the evidence and reasons are insufficient; to take a position and be able to change position when the evidence and reasons are sufficient; and to look at findings from various perspectives.

Perseverance

To be resilient and motivated to persist at working through complex tasks and the associated frustration and difficulty inherent in such tasks, without giving up; motivation to get the job done correctly; a desire to progress.

Inquisitiveness

An inclination to be curious; desire to fully understand something, discover the answer to a problem, and accept that an answer may not yet be known; a sustained curiosity to understand a task and its associated requirements.

Intrinsic Goal Orientation

Inclined to be positive and enthusiastic towards a task or topic and the process of learning new things; to search for answers as a result of internal motivation, rather than as a result of external, extrinsic rewards.

Attentiveness

Willingness to focus and concentrate; to be aware of surroundings, context, consequences and potential obstacles.

A tendency to visualise, simulate and generate novel ideas; to "think outside the box" (i.e. thinking from different perspectives, with non-normative solutions and novel syntheses).

To seek intelligibility, transparency, lucidity and precision from others and to be clear with respect to the intended meaning of any communication.

Next, a total of 167 scale items designed to tap into these 13 dispositions were generated and were sent to independent experts for review, specifically, to evaluate both the relevance and clarity of statements as indicators of specific CT dispositions. Based on expert feedback, 101 items measuring the 13 CT dispositions were retained for factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis first revealed an eight-factor CT disposition structure, and subsequent confirmatory factor analysis indicated a six-factor structure. As such, although we started with 13 CT dispositions derived from collective intelligence work, statistical analyses converged on a six-factor, 21-item SENCTDS measure with good reliability for the total scale (α=.773) and sub-scales (α=.594 - .823). The scale items and associated factors are presented below.

When a theory, interpretation or conclusion is presented to me, I try to decide if there is good supporting evidence.
When faced with a decision, I seek as much information as possible.
I try to gather as much information about a topic before I draw a conclusion about it.
I find that I'm easily distracted when thinking about a task.
I find it hard to concentrate when thinking about problems.
I often miss out on important information because I'm thinking of other things.
I often daydream when learning a new topic.

Open-mindedness

Thinking is not about "being flexible," it’s about "being right."
Being open-minded about different worldviews is less important than people think.
When attempting to solve complex problems, it’s better to give up fast if you cannot reach a solution.
I know what I think and believe so it’s not important to dwell on it any further.
I like to make lists of things I need to do and thoughts I may have.
I take notes so I can organize my thoughts.
I make simple charts, diagrams or tables to help me organize large amounts of information.
I persevere with a task even when it is very difficult.
Frustration does not stop me from finishing what needs to be done.
I find it desirable to keep going even if it is sometimes hard.

Intrinsic goal motivation

I enjoy information that challenges me to think.
I look forward to learning challenging things.
Completing difficult tasks is fun for me.
Even if material is difficult to comprehend, I enjoy dealing with information that arouses my curiosity.

Although more work is needed to further evaluate the factor structure and scale reliability and validity of the SENCTDS, a range of convergent and predictive validity analyses are reported in the published paper.

For example, we used the Revised Paranormal Beliefs Scale (Tobacyk, 2004), and the Generic Conspiracist Beliefs questionnaire (GCB; Brotherton, French & Pickering, 2013) as part of predictive validity testing. Notably, higher scores on the SENCTDS factor perseverance were associated with lower paranormal belief scores. It is increasingly understood that judgments and decisions can be driven by biases and heuristics , which may increase vulnerability to superstitious and paranormal beliefs (Willard & Norenzayan, 2013). However, if one perseveres and works through challenging issues and problems, one may be less susceptible to accepting paranormal beliefs.

Consistent with the idea that persevering with challenging tasks entails a motivation to engage with knowledge, a negative relationship was also found between intrinsic goal motivation and paranormal belief scores. SENCTDS also predicted a number of GCB subscale scores. For example, higher levels of open-mindedness were associated with lower levels of endorsement for conspiracy-related control of information (CI) beliefs, a finding consistent with previous research (Swami, Voracek, Stieger, Tran, & Furnham, 2014).

Perseverance was also found to negatively predict government malfeasance (GM) and malevolent global (MG) conspiracy beliefs. Furthermore, attentiveness was found to negatively predict extra-terrestrial cover-up (ET) beliefs. Attentiveness has previously been linked with deep learning (Lau, Liem & Nie, 2009) and insight problem-solving (Byrne & Murray, 2005), and the findings from our study suggest that dispositional attentiveness to information and arguments may also influence personal beliefs.

In summary, our study provides researchers and educators with a unique conceptualisation of CT dispositions and a new scale that can be used to measure six dispositions. While research has highlighted the importance of thinking dispositions, limited work has focused on CT disposition scale development. The current research points to the SENCTDS as a reliable and valid measure of CT dispositions, which may prove useful in advancing basic and applied research in the area.

Brotherton, R., French, C. C., & Pickering, A. D. (2013). Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: The generic conspiracist beliefs scale. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 279. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279

Butler, H. A., Dwyer, C. P., Hogan, M. J., Franco, A., Rivas, S. F., Saiz, C., & Almeida, L. F. (2012). Halpern Critical Thinking Assessment and real-world outcomes: Cross-national application. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 7(2), 112-121.

Byrne, R. M., & Murray, M. A. (2005, January). Attention and working memory in insight problem-solving. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 27, No. 27).

DeVellis, R. F. (2012). Scale development: Theory and applications (Vol. 26). Thousand Oaks: Sage publications.

Dwyer, C. P., Hogan, M. J., Harney, O. M., & Kavanagh, C. (2016). Facilitating a student-educator conceptual model of dispositions towards critical thinking through interactive management. Educational Technology Research and Development, 1-27.

Facione, P. A., & Facione, N. C. (1992). California critical thinking disposition inventory. Millbrae: California Academic Press

Halpern, D. F. (2013). Thought and knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking. New York: Psychology Press.

Lau, S., Liem, A. D., & Nie, Y. (2008). Task‐and self‐related pathways to deep learning: The mediating role of achievement goals, classroom attentiveness, and group participation. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78(4), 639-662. doi: https://doi.org/10.1348/000709907X270261

Sosu, E. M. (2013). The development and psychometric validation of a Critical Thinking Disposition Scale. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 9, 107-119. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2012.09.002

Swami, V., Voracek, M., Stieger, S., Tran, U. S., & Furnham, A. (2014). Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories. Cognition, 133(3), 572-585. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2014.08.006.

Tobacyk, J. J. (2004). A revised paranormal belief scale. The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 23(23), 94-98. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2004.23.1.94

Michael Hogan, Ph.D. , is a lecturer in psychology at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

How do critical thinking ability and critical thinking disposition relate to the mental health of university students.

$\nZhiyuan Liu$

School of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

Introduction

Although there is no consistent definition of critical thinking (CT), it is usually described as “purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanations of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations that judgment is based upon” ( Facione, 1990 , p. 2). This suggests that CT is a combination of skills and dispositions. The skill aspect mainly refers to higher-order cognitive skills such as inference, analysis, and evaluation, while the disposition aspect represents one's consistent motivation and willingness to use CT skills ( Dwyer, 2017 ). An increasing number of studies have indicated that CT plays crucial roles in the activities of university students such as their academic performance (e.g., Ghanizadeh, 2017 ; Ren et al., 2020 ), professional work (e.g., Barry et al., 2020 ), and even the ability to cope with life events (e.g., Butler et al., 2017 ). An area that has received less attention is how critical thinking relates to impulsivity and mental health. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between CT (which included both CT skill and CT disposition), impulsivity, and mental health among university students.

Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Mental Health

Associating critical thinking with mental health is not without reason, since theories of psychotherapy have long stressed a linkage between mental problems and dysfunctional thinking ( Gilbert, 2003 ; Gambrill, 2005 ; Cuijpers, 2019 ). Proponents of cognitive behavioral therapy suggest that the interpretation by people of a situation affects their emotional, behavioral, and physiological reactions. Those with mental problems are inclined to bias or heuristic thinking and are more likely to misinterpret neutral or even positive situations ( Hollon and Beck, 2013 ). Therefore, a main goal of cognitive behavioral therapy is to overcome biased thinking and change maladaptive beliefs via cognitive modification skills such as objective understanding of one's cognitive distortions, analyzing evidence for and against one's automatic thinking, or testing the effect of an alternative way of thinking. Achieving these therapeutic goals requires the involvement of critical thinking, such as the willingness and ability to critically analyze one's thoughts and evaluate evidence and arguments independently of one's prior beliefs. In addition to theoretical underpinnings, characteristics of university students also suggest a relationship between CT and mental health. University students are a risky population in terms of mental health. They face many normative transitions (e.g., social and romantic relationships, important exams, financial pressures), which are stressful ( Duffy et al., 2019 ). In particular, the risk increases when students experience academic failure ( Lee et al., 2008 ; Mamun et al., 2021 ). Hong et al. (2010) found that the stress in Chinese college students was primarily related to academic, personal, and negative life events. However, university students are also a population with many resources to work on. Critical thinking can be considered one of the important resources that students are able to use ( Stupple et al., 2017 ). Both CT skills and CT disposition are valuable qualities for college students to possess ( Facione, 1990 ). There is evidence showing that students with a higher level of CT are more successful in terms of academic performance ( Ghanizadeh, 2017 ; Ren et al., 2020 ), and that they are better at coping with stressful events ( Butler et al., 2017 ). This suggests that that students with higher CT are less likely to suffer from mental problems.

Empirical research has reported an association between CT and mental health among college students ( Suliman and Halabi, 2007 ; Kargar et al., 2013 ; Yoshinori and Marcus, 2013 ; Chen and Hwang, 2020 ; Ugwuozor et al., 2021 ). Most of these studies focused on the relationship between CT disposition and mental health. For example, Suliman and Halabi (2007) reported that the CT disposition of nursing students was positively correlated with their self-esteem, but was negatively correlated with their state anxiety. There is also a research study demonstrating that CT disposition influenced the intensity of worry in college students either by increasing their responsibility to continue thinking or by enhancing the detached awareness of negative thoughts ( Yoshinori and Marcus, 2013 ). Regarding the relationship between CT ability and mental health, although there has been no direct evidence, there were educational programs examining the effect of teaching CT skills on the mental health of adolescents ( Kargar et al., 2013 ). The results showed that teaching CT skills decreased somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, and insomnia in adolescents. Another recent CT skill intervention also found a significant reduction in mental stress among university students, suggesting an association between CT skills and mental health ( Ugwuozor et al., 2021 ).

Impulsivity as a Potential Mediator Between Critical Thinking and Mental Health

One important factor suggested by previous research in accounting for the relationship between CT and mental health is impulsivity. Impulsivity is recognized as a pattern of action without regard to consequences. Patton et al. (1995) proposed that impulsivity is a multi-faceted construct that consists of three behavioral factors, namely, non-planning impulsiveness, referring to making a decision without careful forethought; motor impulsiveness, referring to acting on the spur of the moment; and attentional impulsiveness, referring to one's inability to focus on the task at hand. Impulsivity is prominent in clinical problems associated with psychiatric disorders ( Fortgang et al., 2016 ). A number of mental problems are associated with increased impulsivity that is likely to aggravate clinical illnesses ( Leclair et al., 2020 ). Moreover, a lack of CT is correlated with poor impulse control ( Franco et al., 2017 ). Applications of CT may reduce impulsive behaviors caused by heuristic and biased thinking when one makes a decision ( West et al., 2008 ). For example, Gregory (1991) suggested that CT skills enhance the ability of children to anticipate the health or safety consequences of a decision. Given this, those with high levels of CT are expected to take a rigorous attitude about the consequences of actions and are less likely to engage in impulsive behaviors, which may place them at a low risk of suffering mental problems. To the knowledge of the authors, no study has empirically tested whether impulsivity accounts for the relationship between CT and mental health.

Participants and Procedure

Measures of Critical Thinking Ability

The Chinese version of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test was employed to measure CT skills ( Lin, 2018 ). The CCTST is currently the most cited tool for measuring CT skills and includes analysis, assessment, deduction, inductive reasoning, and inference reasoning. The Chinese version included 34 multiple choice items. The dependent variable was the number of correctly answered items. The internal consistency (Cronbach's α) of the CCTST is 0.56 ( Jacobs, 1995 ). The test–retest reliability of CCTST-CV is 0.63 ( p < 0.01) ( Luo and Yang, 2002 ), and correlations between scores of the subscales and the total score are larger than 0.5 ( Lin, 2018 ), supporting the construct validity of the scale. In this study among the university students, the internal consistency (Cronbach's α) of the CCTST-CV was 0.5.

The second critical thinking test employed in this study was adapted from the belief bias paradigm ( Li et al., 2021 ). This task paradigm measures the ability to evaluate evidence and arguments independently of one's prior beliefs ( West et al., 2008 ), which is a strongly emphasized skill in CT literature. The current test included 20 syllogistic reasoning problems in which the logical conclusion was inconsistent with one's prior knowledge (e.g., “Premise 1: All fruits are sweet. Premise 2: Bananas are not sweet. Conclusion: Bananas are not fruits.” valid conclusion). In addition, four non-conflict items were included as the neutral condition in order to avoid a habitual response from the participants. They were instructed to suppose that all the premises are true and to decide whether the conclusion logically follows from the given premises. The measure showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.83) in a Chinese sample ( Li et al., 2021 ). In this study, the internal consistency (Cronbach's α) of the SRPBB was 0.94.

Measures of Critical Thinking Disposition

The Chinese Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory was employed to measure CT disposition ( Peng et al., 2004 ). This scale has been developed in line with the conceptual framework of the California critical thinking disposition inventory. We measured five CT dispositions: truth-seeking (one's objectivity with findings even if this requires changing one's preconceived opinions, e.g., a person inclined toward being truth-seeking might disagree with “I believe what I want to believe.”), inquisitiveness (one's intellectual curiosity. e.g., “No matter what the topic, I am eager to know more about it”), analyticity (the tendency to use reasoning and evidence to solve problems, e.g., “It bothers me when people rely on weak arguments to defend good ideas”), systematically (the disposition of being organized and orderly in inquiry, e.g., “I always focus on the question before I attempt to answer it”), and CT self-confidence (the trust one places in one's own reasoning processes, e.g., “I appreciate my ability to think precisely”). Each disposition aspect contained 10 items, which the participants rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale. This measure has shown high internal consistency (overall Cronbach's α = 0.9) ( Peng et al., 2004 ). In this study, the CCTDI scale was assessed at Cronbach's α = 0.89, indicating good reliability.

Measure of Impulsivity

The well-known Barrett Impulsivity Scale ( Patton et al., 1995 ) was employed to assess three facets of impulsivity: non-planning impulsivity (e.g., “I plan tasks carefully”); motor impulsivity (e.g., “I act on the spur of the moment”); attentional impulsivity (e.g., “I concentrate easily”). The scale includes 30 statements, and each statement is rated on a 5-point scale. The subscales of non-planning impulsivity and attentional impulsivity were reversely scored. The BIS-11 has good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.81, Velotti et al., 2016 ). This study showed that the Cronbach's α of the BIS-11 was 0.83.

Measures of Mental Health

The University Personality Inventory that has been commonly used to screen for mental problems of college students ( Yoshida et al., 1998 ) was also used for measuring mental health. The 56 symptom-items assessed whether an individual has experienced the described symptom during the past year (e.g., “a lack of interest in anything”). The UPI showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.92) in a Chinese sample ( Zhang et al., 2015 ). This study showed that the Cronbach's α of the UPI was 0.85.

Statistical Analyses

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlations

Table 1 . Descriptive results and correlations between all measured variables ( N = 314).

Regression Analyses

Table 2 . Hierarchical regression models predicting mental health from critical thinking skills, critical thinking dispositions, and impulsivity ( N = 314).

The mediation model that included motor impulsivity (see Figure 1 ) showed an acceptable fit, χ ( 23 ) 2 = 64.71, RMSEA = 0.076, CFI = 0.96, GFI = 0.96, NNFI = 0.93, SRMR = 0.073. Mediation analyses indicated that the 95% boot confidence intervals of the indirect effect and the direct effect were (0.07, 0.26) and (−0.08, 0.32), respectively. As Hayes (2009) indicates, an effect is significant if zero is not between the lower and upper bounds in the 95% confidence interval. Accordingly, the indirect effect between CT disposition and mental health was significant, while the direct effect was not significant. Thus, motor impulsivity completely mediated the relationship between CT disposition and mental health.

Figure 1 . Illustration of the mediation model: Motor impulsivity as mediator variable between critical thinking dispositions and mental health. CTD-l = Truth seeking; CTD-2 = Analyticity; CTD-3 = Systematically; CTD-4 = Self-confidence; CTD-5 = Inquisitiveness. MI-I and MI-2 were sub-scores of motor impulsivity. Solid line represents significant links and dotted line non-significant links. ** p < 0.01.

Figure 2 . Illustration of the mediation model: Non-planning impulsivity asmediator variable between critical thinking dispositions and mental health. CTD-l = Truth seeking; CTD-2 = Analyticity; CTD-3 = Systematically; CTD-4 = Self-confidence; CTD-5 = Inquisitiveness. NI-I and NI-2 were sub-scores of Non-planning impulsivity. Solid line represents significant links and dotted line non-significant links. ** p < 0.01.

This study examined how critical thinking skill and disposition are related to mental health. Theories of psychotherapy suggest that human mental problems are in part due to a lack of CT. However, empirical evidence for the hypothesized relationship between CT and mental health is relatively scarce. This study explored whether and how CT ability and disposition are associated with mental health. The results, based on a university student sample, indicated that CT skill and disposition explained a unique variance in mental health. Furthermore, the effect of CT disposition on mental health was mediated by motor impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity. The finding that CT exerted a significant effect on mental health was in accordance with previous studies reporting negative correlations between CT disposition and mental disorders such as anxiety ( Suliman and Halabi, 2007 ). One reason lies in the assumption that CT disposition is usually referred to as personality traits or habits of mind that are a remarkable predictor of mental health (e.g., Benzi et al., 2019 ). This study further found that of the five CT dispositions, only truth-seeking and systematicity were associated with individual differences in mental health. This was not surprising, since the truth-seeking items mainly assess one's inclination to crave for the best knowledge in a given context and to reflect more about additional facts, reasons, or opinions, even if this requires changing one's mind about certain issues. The systematicity items target one's disposition to approach problems in an orderly and focused way. Individuals with high levels of truth-seeking and systematicity are more likely to adopt a comprehensive, reflective, and controlled way of thinking, which is what cognitive therapy aims to achieve by shifting from an automatic mode of processing to a more reflective and controlled mode.

Another important finding was that motor impulsivity and non-planning impulsivity mediated the effect of CT disposition on mental health. The reason may be that people lacking CT have less willingness to enter into a systematically analyzing process or deliberative decision-making process, resulting in more frequently rash behaviors or unplanned actions without regard for consequences ( Billieux et al., 2010 ; Franco et al., 2017 ). Such responses can potentially have tangible negative consequences (e.g., conflict, aggression, addiction) that may lead to social maladjustment that is regarded as a symptom of mental illness. On the contrary, critical thinkers have a sense of deliberativeness and consider alternate consequences before acting, and this thinking-before-acting mode would logically lead to a decrease in impulsivity, which then decreases the likelihood of problematic behaviors and negative moods.

Conclusions

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

Author Contributions

This work was supported by the Social Science Foundation of China (grant number: BBA200034).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

1. ^ We re-analyzed the data by controlling for age and gender of the participants in the regression analyses. The results were virtually the same as those reported in the study.

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Keywords: mental health, critical thinking ability, critical thinking disposition, impulsivity, depression

Citation: Liu Z, Li S, Shang S and Ren X (2021) How Do Critical Thinking Ability and Critical Thinking Disposition Relate to the Mental Health of University Students? Front. Psychol. 12:704229. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704229

Received: 04 May 2021; Accepted: 21 July 2021; Published: 19 August 2021.

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Copyright © 2021 Liu, Li, Shang and Ren. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Xuezhu Ren, renxz@hust.edu.cn

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

DOI: 10.1037/T62781-000
Corpus ID: 150817295

Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale

Published 11 September 2017

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An empirical test of the concept of the adaptively intelligent attitude.

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Psychometric properties of the critical thinking disposition assessment test amongst medical students in China: a cross-sectional study

Liyuan Cui 1 , 2 ,
Yaxin Zhu 1 ,
Jinglou Qu 1 , 3 ,
Liming Tie 1 , 4 ,
Ziqi Wang 1 &
Bo Qu ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2526-9690 1

BMC Medical Education volume 21 , Article number: 10 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

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Metrics details

Critical thinking disposition helps medical students and professionals overcome the effects of personal values and beliefs when exercising clinical judgment. The lack of effective instruments to measure critical thinking disposition in medical students has become an obstacle for training and evaluating students in undergraduate programs in China. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the CTDA test.

A total of 278 students participated in this study and responded to the CTDA test. Cronbach’s α coefficient, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, floor effects and ceiling effects were measured to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. Construct validity of the pre-specified three-domain structure of the CTDA was evaluated by explanatory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The convergent validity and discriminant validity were also analyzed.

Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire questionnaire was calculated to be 0.92, all of the domains showed acceptable internal consistency (0.81–0.86), and the test-retest reliability indicated acceptable intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) (0.93, p < 0.01). The EFA and the CFA demonstrated that the three-domain model fitted the data adequately. The test showed satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity.

Conclusions

The CTDA is a reliable and valid questionnaire to evaluate the disposition of medical students towards critical thinking in China and can reasonably be applied in critical thinking programs and medical education research.

Peer Review reports

For decades, the importance of developing critical thinking skills has been emphasized in medical education [ 1 ]. As listed by the World Federation for Medical Education, critical thinking should be part of the training standards for medical students and practitioners [ 2 ]. Critical thinking is essential for medical students and professionals to be able to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients effectively [ 3 ]. One major criticism of medical education is the gap that exists between what students learn in the classroom setting and what they experience in clinical practice [ 4 ]. Only a few students will analyze and employ critical thinking when they acquire knowledge during their education [ 5 ]. Therefore, critical thinking has become increasingly necessary for medical students and professionals [ 6 ].

Critical thinking is an indispensable component of ethical reasoning and clinical judgment, and possessing reasonable critical thinking abilities reduces the risk of clinical errors [ 7 ]. Adverse events that occur by human error and preventable medical errors were frequently caused by a failure of cognitive function (e.g., failure to synthesize and/or take action based on information), which was second only to ‘failure in technical operation of an indicated procedure’ [ 8 , 9 ]. Similar problems have been reported in several countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Denmark [ 10 ]. Therefore, medical professionals need to exercise critical thinking, transcend simple issues, and make sound judgments in order to handle adverse medical situations [ 11 ]. Providing evidence and logical arguments to medical students and professionals is beneficial in order to support clinical decision-making and assertions [ 12 ]. Lipman and Deatrick are of the same opinion; i.e., critical thinking is a prerequisite for sound clinical decision-making [ 13 ]. Therefore, medical students should be exposed to clinical learning experiences that promote the acquisition of critical thinking abilities that are needed to provide quality care for patients in modern complex healthcare environments [ 14 ].

Currently, critical thinking is defined as a kind of reasonable reflective thinking following the synthesis of cognitive abilities and disposition [ 15 ]. The former includes interpretation, deduction, induction, evaluation and inference, whereas the latter includes having an open mind and being intellectually honest [ 16 ]. The critical thinking disposition (CTD) was described as seven attributes including, truth-seeking, open-mindness, analyticity, systematicity, critical thinking self-confidence, inquisitiveness and maturity [ 17 ]. A disposition to critical thinking is essential for professional clinical judgement [ 18 ]. An assessment of the CTD in professional judgment circumstances and educational contexts can establish benchmarks to advance critical thinking through training programs [ 4 ].

To investigate and assess the CTD in medical students, a reliable and valid tool is indispensable. Several CTD measurement tools are available, such as the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI), Yoon’s Critical Thinking Disposition (YCTD) and the Critical Thinking Disposition Assessment (CTDA). The CCTDI was developed to evaluate the CTD in normal adults. It had good reliability and validity in western cultures, however, it had low reliability and validity for Chinese nursing students in previous studies [ 19 , 20 ]. Yoon created the YCTD, which was based on the CCTDI, for nursing students in South Korea [ 21 ]. According to the literature review and other measures of critical thinking disposition, Yuan developed the CTDA in English version. They used it to measure the CTD for medical students and professionals. In his study, the Cronbach’s alpha for the entire assessment was 0.94 [ 22 ]. The CTD for the CTDA were defined as “systematicity and analyticity”, “inquisitiveness and conversance” and “maturity and skepticism”. The “systematicity and analyticity” portion is the cognitive component of the CTD and measured the tendency towards organizing and applying evidence to address problems. Being systematical and analytical allow medical students to connect clinical observations with their knowledge to anticipate events that are likely to threaten the patient’s safety [ 23 ]. The “inquisitiveness and conversance” is the motivation component of the CTD. It measures the desire of medical students for learning whenever the application of the knowledge is inconclusive and is essential for medical students to expand their knowledge in clinical practice [ 24 ]. The “maturity and skepticism” is the personality component of the CTD which measured the disposition to be judicious in decision making and how often it leads to reflective skepticism. This disposition has particular implications for ethical decision making, particularly in time-pressured clinical situations [ 25 ]. All the domains have a tight connection to one another. In adapting to the Chinese version, we followed the translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the guidelines set forth by the WHO [ 26 ]. The steps listed by the WHO are as follows: forward translation, expert panel review, back translation, pretest and cognitive interviews, and formulation of the final version. As such, the CTDA may be especially valuable for institutes or universities in Asian countries or with an Eastern culture for assessing critical thinking disposition in medical students. Given the lack of effective instruments to assess the CTD in undergraduate medical programs in mainland China, the objective of this investigation was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the CTDA.

Sample sizes

According to Kline’s recommendation, it is necessary to note that the sample size should base on the principle of a 1:10 item to participant ratio [ 27 ]. The total number of items in the CDTA is nineteen and so the sample size should be at least 190 students. Therefore, using this guideline, with a sample size of 300 students, this research exceeds the recommended minimum.

Participants and procedures

Students of clinical medicine in China must undergo 5 years of medical training. Years 1 and 2 are dedicated to the basic sciences, years 3 and 4 to clinical medicine, and year 5 is the clinical internship. This study involved stratified-cluster random sampling. Firstly, the participants were recruited from different academic years. Two classes were selected randomly from each year. There were approximately 30 individuals in one class, with 300 medical students enrolled in this study in total. The sample of the study for test-retest reliability to assess the ICCs is 14 [ 28 ]. Forty-nine respondents were randomly selected to finish the online survey 2 weeks later and 43 participants completed it.

Three hundred medical students completed the online survey between March and June 2019. Respondents provided written consent to participate in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was applied in the survey. The anonymity of participants was guaranteed and all of students voluntarily took part in the study. It took approximately 15 to 20 min to submit the questionnaire.

The questionnaire consisted of two components: part A which included sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, and academic year) and part B which contained the CTDA. The CTDA assessed the CTD of medical students and professionals and was comprised of 19 items in three domains as follows: “systematicity and analyticity”, “inquisitiveness and conversance”, and “maturity and skepticism”. Items were rated on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 7 (1 for very strongly disagree and 7 for very strongly agree ) [ 22 ]. Each domain was computed to the sum of its item score and the total CTDA was calculated by the sum of its domain scores. Higher scores signified higher CTD.

Statistical analysis

Reliability

We computed Cronbach’s α as a measure of internal consistency along with the means, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, ceiling and floor effects of the questionnaire and its domains. Absolute values of skewness and kurtosis higher than 3 and 10 respectively showed significant deviance from a normal subject’s distribution [ 29 ]. Student’s F-test was performed to determine the association between the academic year and domains of the CTDA. The ceiling and floor effects were considered abnormal when the highest/lowest scores were higher than 20% [ 30 , 31 ]. Following Kline’s recommendations, a Cronbach’s alpha above 0.70 was considered satisfactory [ 27 ]. The test-retest reliability was good if the ICC was higher than 0.70.

With the purpose of assessing construct validity, the original three-factor structure of the CTDA was applied for explanatory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Factor analysis using principal component analysis with direct oblimin rotation was used and a factor load > 0.4 was considered as acceptable [ 32 ]. Domains of the instrument was assessed based on selected criteria through the following indexes: a) CMIN/DF < 3; b) RMSEA< 0.08; c) AGFI> 0.80; d) the p value should be significant [ 33 , 34 ]. Pearson’s correlation coefficient between each domain of the CTDA was used to test the inter-correlation of the scale.

The convergent and discriminant validity of the questionnaire was measured by computing item-domain Pearson’s correlations. If the former was more than 0.4, it indicated that the items and their domains were acceptable [ 35 ]. The latter was considered satisfactory if items showed correlations with other domains that were lower than those with their own domains. The CFA was conducted with AMOS 21 and other statistics were calculated with SPSS 23. Ten students checked the face validity. Each item received positive feedback from students indicating that the CTDA had good face validity.

Basic characteristics of the study sample

Of the total number of 300 students participating in the research, 278 (92.67%) completed the study. The mean age of the 278 individuals was 20.88 ± 1.76 years (SD); within the study sample, 113 of the participants (40.64%) were male. Additionally, 54 of the individuals (19.42%) were first year students and 55 of the students (19.78%) were fifth year students.

Score distributions

Across domains, “systematicity and analyticity” obtained the highest score (43.93 ± 5.71), whereas “maturity and skepticism” scored the lowest (28.41 ± 3.96). The skewness and kurtosis coefficients of the entire questionnaire were acceptable, with the former ranging from − 0.98 to − 0.32 and the latter ranging from − 0.13 to 2.05. There were no floor effects in the three domains. However, items 12, 18, and 19 showed significant ceiling effects ranging from (20.14–23.74%).

The overall Cronbach’s α coefficient of the CTDA was good (0.92) and showed good internal consistency. The three domains were considered to have shown acceptable internal consistency (0.81–0.86). The overall split-half reliability coefficient of the CTDA was acceptable (0.89). The retest response rate was 83.67% (41/49), and the test-retest reliability (0.93) revealed statistically significant ICCs for the three domains. In addition, the Pearson’s correlation coefficients of all domains were acceptable. The results are reported in Table 1 .

Construct validity

The Kaisex-Meyer-Olkin test result was 0.92 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity yielded a p < 0.05, signifying that the gathered results indicated that factor analysis could be performed. The EFA revealed factors with eigenvalues greater than 1, accounting for 57.13% of the variance. A three-factor solution based on the results was reported in the rotated component matrix (Table 2 ).

We performed a CFA of the three-factor structure with 19 items to demonstrate that the structure showed an acceptable fit with the data (χ2 = 410.75, df = 149, CMIN/DF = 2.76, CFI = 0.90, AGFI = 0.83, p < 0.05, RMSEA = 0.08 [90% CI: 0.07 to 0.09]). Factor loadings were higher than 0.40 and ranged from ( r = 0.50–0.85), as illustrated in Fig. 1 .

The model of the CTDA based on CFA. CTDA, the critical thinking disposition assessment

Correlation analysis between CTDA domains

The CTDA showed significant correlation between any of the two assessment domains ( r = 0.61–0.72), with p values less than 0.01. The correlations between assessment domains based on Pearson’s correlation are shown in Table 3 .

Convergent validity and discriminant validity

Based on item-domain correlations, the scores of each item correlated with their own domain to an acceptable degree ( r = 0.65–0.86, p < 0.01), and the convergent validity of the CTDA was acceptable. In addition, whole items showed a higher correlation with their own domains than with other domains and the discriminant validity was satisfactory, as shown in Table 4 .

Dose-response analysis

The relationship between the academic year and domains of the CTDA is reported in Table 5 . It indicated that there were significant differences among the 5 years on the CTDA score and domains. The year 2 students obtained the highest of the CTDA (107.88 ± 11.34) and the year 1 students scored 107.20 ± 12.14. Surprisingly, the year 5 students reported the lowest level at (98.91 ± 12.52). Among the 5 years, the year 2 students had the highest score (45.32 ± 5.01) in “systematicity and analyticity” and the year 1 students obtained the highest score (33.76 ± 4.59) in “inquisitiveness and conversance”. Moreover, the highest scores overall were the year 3 students’ in “maturity and skepticism” at 29.16 ± 3.47. On the other side, the year 5 students had the lowest scores in all of the domains.

The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were satisfactory. Results demonstrated that the CTDA is good, reliable, and valid for Chinese medical students. In addition, all items and domains showed acceptable kurtosis and skewness coefficients. Our results were similar to those of previous studies conducted in Ireland and Iran using other critical thinking disposition instruments [ 36 , 37 ]. However, three items showed a significant ceiling effect, above the accepted threshold of 20%. This result was comparable to that reported in two critical thinking studies which showed evidence of a ceiling effect in overall scores in the United States and China [ 38 , 39 ]. The ceiling effect might be attributable to the population distribution at schools or universities [ 39 ].

It is clear that the domains of the CTDA showed rationally acceptable reliability when evaluating the CTD of medical students. The satisfactory Cronbach’s α coefficient values of the domains demonstrate the high internal consistency of the entire questionnaire. Our results are in line with other studies conducted in Asian countries, as seen by the Cronbach’s α reliability of the CCTDI of 0.87 in Turkey by Iskifoglu [ 40 ] and 0.80 in Iran by Gupta [ 41 ]. Our study showed the Cronbach’s alpha of the CTDA was 0.92, which was similar to the value reported in the original study [ 22 ]. Therefore, the Cronbach’s α indicates that the whole internal reliability of the CTDA test is satisfactory.

Our findings indicated that the EFA of the CTDA conducted with medical students and professionals yielded a three-domain model. The EFA model of our study was the same to the previous study [ 22 ]. Our CFA results indicated that the three-factor structure (“systematicity and analyticity”, “inquisitiveness and conversance” and “maturity and skepticism”) of the CTDA (AGFI = 0.83, RMSEA = 0.08) showed an acceptable fit with the data. It is likely that the differences in the domains depend on the different theoretical models [ 42 ]. The domains of the CTDA test were similar to those reported in other studies conducted in Asian countries like Turkey, Japan and Korea based on the theoretical model of Facione. Yoshinori reported that the CFA of the CTD Scale displayed four subfactors, similar to our study [ 43 ]. Shin noted that the CFA of the YCTD revealed a seven-domain model, and three of the domains (systematicity, intellectual eagerness/curiosity, and healthy skepticism) were similar to those of our study [ 44 ]. However, Zuriguelperez reported that the CFA of the Critical Thinking Questionnaire completed by Spanish students yielded a four-factor model (personal, intellectual and cognitive, interpersonal/self-management and technical), based on the Alfaro-LeFevre theoretical model [ 45 ].

Similar results were found by Yuan and Wang’s studies in the critical thinking disposition inventory for Chinese medical students [ 6 , 22 ]. Our research offers a plausible explanation for the high correlations between the domains. “Inquisitiveness and conversance” could be taken to mean that the students have the desire for learning and are intellectually curious while “systematicity and analyticity” could mean that students use reason and evidence to address problems with systemic thinking. Both of them have a tight connection with one another.

Our research demonstrated that the convergent validity and discriminant validity of the CTDA were satisfactory and all items displayed a higher correlation with their own domain than with other domains. Therefore, no items need to be modified or reassigned to another domain. Other studies conducted in China have reported similar results in terms of convergent and discriminant validity of the CTD instrument [ 46 , 47 ].

We reported that the CTD scores of the year 5 medical students were lower than those of the year 1 students. The explanation could be that employment pressure and the stress of internship for the fifth-year students may have made their CTD worse. In addition, Ip suggested that the CTD scores of the younger Chinese nursing students were higher than the older students, especially in the domain between inquisitiveness and confidence [ 19 ]. Similar result was found by Kim in Korean nursing students. They found that the domain scores between intellectual integrity and truth seeking in year 1 were higher than year 4 [ 48 ]. However, Hunter found that the CTD were the highest during the year 4 for nursing students [ 49 ].

The CTDA shows promise as an instrument for future studies on the CTD by medical students in China. However, certain limitations of our research should be acknowledged. First, the medical students were recruited from a single medical institution in China, so the sample representativeness was limited. Second, due to time constraints, the findings of our study were limited by the size of the study population. Future studies could increase the representativeness of the study population by expanding sample diversity and size. Third, the concurrent validity of CTDA was not tested due to the lack of a widely used CTD scale. Fourth, the CTDA could only measure the dispositions or traits of critical thinking which cannot assess for critical thinking skills.

Our findings demonstrate promising applicability of the CTDA, since the questionnaire is of good reliability and validity to measuring the CTD amongst Chinese medical students. The results may be valuable to other institutions involved in assessing critical thinking disposition in students.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Chi square divided by degrees of freedom

Intra-class correlation coefficients

Standard deviation

Confirmatory factor analysis

The critical Thinking Disposition Assessment

Root mean square error of approximation

Yoon’s Critical Thinking Disposition

Adjusted goodness-of-fit index

California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory

Comparative fit index

Explanatory factor analysis

Critical thinking disposition

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Acknowledgements

All of the authors would like to thank Dr. Wang Yahuei, who gave the permission to use the CTDA in our institution. We thank Michael Xu for the English editing. Finally, we deeply appreciate the support of all the participants.

This study was supported by the 2017 Liaoning Distinguished Professor (Grant number 9), the 2017 Liaoning Bai Qian Wan Talents Program (Grant number 11), the 2018 Medical Education Project of China Medical University (YDJK2018039) and the Social Science Promotion Program of China Medical University (3110118070). All funding had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, interpretation of data and in the writing of the manuscript.

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CLY contributed significantly to the writing of the manuscript, TLM collected data, ZYX, QJL and WZQ analyzed the data, and QB conceived the study and rigorously revised the article. Final version was read and approved by all the authors.

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Ethics approval for the investigation was granted by the Bioethics Advisory Commission of China Medical University. Written informed consent was obtained from each of the participants. The anonymity of participants was guaranteed and all of students voluntarily participated in the study.

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Cui, L., Zhu, Y., Qu, J. et al. Psychometric properties of the critical thinking disposition assessment test amongst medical students in China: a cross-sectional study. BMC Med Educ 21 , 10 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02437-2

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What predicts students’ critical thinking disposition? A comparison of the roles of classroom and family environments

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In learning environments research, limited attention has been paid to the effects of the family environment on student thinking. This study constructed a five-dimension survey of the family environment, based on previous studies of the classroom learning environment, and used it to compare the effects of the family environment and the classroom learning environment associated with an interdisciplinary course (i.e., Liberal Studies) on the critical thinking disposition of 2189 secondary students in Hong Kong. Stepwise regression revealed that: the overall effects of the classroom learning environment of Liberal Studies on critical thinking disposition were greater than those of the family environment; the content-oriented dimensions of both environments were stronger predictors of critical thinking disposition than the relationship-oriented dimensions of both environments; and the effect of the dimension of challenging task on critical thinking disposition was stronger than that of other pedagogy-oriented dimensions. Also the means of all dimensions of the family environment were significantly lower than those of the corresponding dimensions of the classroom learning environment. It is suggested that more effort should be made to enhance both classroom learning environment and family environment to generate convergent forces to efficiently cultivate students’ critical thinking.

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Wan, Z.H. What predicts students’ critical thinking disposition? A comparison of the roles of classroom and family environments. Learning Environ Res 25 , 565–580 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-021-09381-y

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Highlights • Critical thinking is key to coping with the amount of information received, and the lack of accuracy of the so-called 'fake news'. • Psychometric properties of the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS) in Spanish youth are tested. • CTDS is a valid and reliable measurement of critical thinking disposition in high school and university students. • Confirmatory ...
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The CTDS is an 11-item measure of critical thinking dispositions. Sample items include "I am often on the lookout for new ideas," and "I usually try to think about the bigger picture during a discussion." Previous work on the scale reported a coefficient alpha of .79 on total scale scores (Sosu, 2013). While Suso (2013) found support for the ...
PDF The Reliability and Construct Validity of The Critical Thinking
The purpose of the present study was to expand on previous finding by evaluating construct and factorial validity of the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale. This scale consisted of 20 items measuring the four-factor structure of a critical thinking disposition (cynical, analytical, empathic, and pluralistic disposition).
How Do Critical Thinking Ability and Critical Thinking Disposition
This study explored whether and how the critical thinking ability and critical thinking disposition of university students associate with individual differences in mental health in considering impulsivity that has been revealed to be closely related to both critical thinking and mental health.
Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist
Psychology Today offers expert articles on critical thinking dispositions and how to develop them.
California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory
The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) is the premier instrument for assessing critical thinking mindset and provides valid and reliable data for individuals and for groups. The CCTDI is an educational assessment of the mindset dimension of critical thinking. It is designed for use with undergraduate and graduate students.
How Do Critical Thinking Ability and Critical Thinking Disposition
This study explored whether and how the critical thinking ability and critical thinking disposition of university students associate with individual differences in mental health in considering impulsivity that has been revealed to be closely related to both critical thinking and mental health.
Critical Thinking Disposition as a Measure of Competent Clinical
Assessing critical thinking skills and disposition is crucial in nursing education and research. The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) uses the Delphi Report's consensúe definition of critical thinking as the theoretical basis to measure critical thinking disposition. Item analysis and factor analysis techniques were used to create seven disposition scales, which ...
The development and psychometric validation of a Critical Thinking
This article describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS). Items for the scale were generated using taxonomies of important thinking dispositions discussed in the literature. Participants comprised of two cohorts of first year undergraduate and graduate students enrolled on a programme in education. Psychometric evaluation was carried ...
Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale
Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale E. Sosu Published 11 September 2017 Psychology View via Publisher Save to Library Create Alert Cite
Psychometric properties of the critical thinking disposition assessment
Background Critical thinking disposition helps medical students and professionals overcome the effects of personal values and beliefs when exercising clinical judgment. The lack of effective instruments to measure critical thinking disposition in medical students has become an obstacle for training and evaluating students in undergraduate programs in China. The aim of this study was to ...
An Adaptation Study of Critical Thinking Disposition Scale
Abstract and Figures. The purpose of this research was to adapted the scale for Critical Thinking Disposition (EMI) which was developed by Ricketss and Rudd (2005) into Turkish. 1264 first grade ...
What predicts students' critical thinking disposition? A comparison of
To explore the relationship between critical thinking disposition and the classroom learning environment and between critical thinking disposition and the family environment, Pearson correlations for student responses to the three scales were calculated.

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How Do Critical Thinking Ability and Critical Thinking Disposition Relate to the Mental Health of University Students?

Introduction

Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Mental Health

Impulsivity as a Potential Mediator Between Critical Thinking and Mental Health

Participants and Procedure

Measures of Critical Thinking Ability

Measures of Critical Thinking Disposition

Measure of Impulsivity

Measures of Mental Health

Statistical Analyses

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlations

Regression Analyses

Conclusions

Data Availability Statement

Author Contributions

Conflict of Interest

Publisher's Note

Critical Thinking Dispositions

BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Introduction

Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Mental Health

Impulsivity as a Potential Mediator Between Critical Thinking and Mental Health

Participants and Procedure

Measures of Critical Thinking Ability

Measures of Critical Thinking Disposition

Measure of Impulsivity

Measures of Mental Health

Statistical Analyses

Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Correlations

Regression Analyses

Conclusions

Data Availability Statement

Ethics Statement

Author Contributions

Conflict of Interest

Publisher's Note

Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale

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Psychometric properties of the critical thinking disposition assessment test amongst medical students in China: a cross-sectional study

Conclusions

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Participants and procedures

Statistical analysis

Basic characteristics of the study sample

Score distributions

Construct validity

Correlation analysis between CTDA domains

Convergent validity and discriminant validity

Dose-response analysis

Availability of data and materials

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What predicts students’ critical thinking disposition? A comparison of the roles of classroom and family environments

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