To develop overgeneral autobiographical memory questionnaire(OGMQ) and test its reliability and validity.

Through literature search, expert opinions and group discussion the initial items of the questionnaire were formed. A random cluster method was adopted to select 1 911 college students for the preliminary test.Totally 1 840 valid questionnaires were obtained, and 920 of which were assessed for exploratory factor analyses and 920 of which were assessed for confirmatory factor analyses and reliability and validity analysis. Thirty subjects with depression and 30 normal subjects were selected to test its criterion validity.

The questionnaire consisted of 19 items, two dimensions (construction, elaboration) and four factors (spatial-temporal factor, control factor, context factor, emotion factor). Exploratory analysis extracted 4 factors and 19 items, KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) = 0.905, Bartlett test: χ ²=4 728.134, df=171, P<0.001.Confirmatory analysis showed that the factor loads of spatio-temporal factor and control factor in the construction dimension were 0.770 and 0.539 respectively, while the factor loads of context factor and emotional factor in the elaboration dimension were 0.911 and 0.800 respectively. The questionnaire had good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach α=0.870), structural validity (χ²/df=3.550, RMSEA=0.053, GFI=0.944, CFI=0.970, NFI=0.958, IFI=0.970) and criterion validity (r_{(OGMQ, AMT)}=0.870, r_{(OGMQ, BDI)}=0.507), and it was able to effectively distinguish between depressed and normal groups (AUC=0.795).

The OGMQ has satisfactory validity and reliability, and meets the needs of psychometrics, which can be used in depression-related research and practice.

Autobiographical memory; Questionnaire development; Reliability; Validity; Depression