Adaptation and validation of a quarter-of-life crisis questionnaire - The Developmental Crisis Questionnaire (DCQ-12).

Objectives: The aim of this article is to introduce the Polish adaptation of the Developmental Crisis Questionnaire (DCQ-12). In Poland, there is currently no tool for measuring the quarterlife crisis, hindering empirical exploration and cognitive understanding of this phenomenon. The DCQ-12, developed by Petrov and colleagues, serves as an age-independent measure of adult developmental crisis for research and applied purposes.

Methods: This research was conducted online by an external company specializing in research panels. The sample comprised a total of 1,176 subjects. To assess the psychometric properties of the scale, internal structure analyses, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, were performed as well as validity assessment.

Results: Statistical analyses indicated that the Polish adaptation of the DCQ-12 is a reliable tool for examining the severity of the quarter-life crisis and its components. The obtained results confirm the tool's structure, with psychometric properties in the Polish study comparable to the original data. The Cronbach's α for the entire scale was 0.78 which suggests that the reliability of the questionnaire is satisfactory and acceptable.

Conclusions: The Polish version of the DCQ-12 demonstrated good psychometric properties.Its utilization in therapeutic practice can be particularly beneficial and provide insights into specific aspects of the quarter-life crisis.