Testing Three-Item Versions for Seven of Young’s Maladaptive Schema and Wait Impact for Briefly Counseled Non-Urgent Clients

The purposes of this study were to: further test the reliability and discriminant validity of three-item measures of seven maladaptive schema scales on a sample of non-urgent university counseling center (UCC) clients; test the relationships of waiting variables to these maladaptive schema; and test if these waiting variables were related to changes in these maladaptive schema for briefly counseled UCC clients. The results supported the test-retest reliabilities and discriminant validity of these seven scales. Independent sample t-tests between two different types of wait variables, i.e., minimal versus considerable wait bother, and less than two weeks wait versus at least two weeks wait, did not show any significant differences for these scales. However, one scale, mistrust and abuse increased during brief counseling for both the considerable wait bother and at least two weeks waiting groups. It is important to make sure that non-urgent clients get timely counseling.