Validity evidence of the Portuguese version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire

Abstract

There were three aims of the present study. The first was to examine the validity based on the internal structure of the Portuguese version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) using a first and a second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The second was to investigate the predictive validity of the FFMQ through a multiple indicators and multiple causes model (MIMIC). The third was to evaluate the concurrent validity of the FFMQ by computing correlations between FFMQ scores and trait Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (trait MAAS) score. The sample used in this study was composed of 164 yoga practitioners (132 women, 32 men) and 87 non-practitioners (39 women, 48 men). The first order CFA revealed that only a FFMQ with a modified four-factor structure of Nonjudge, Observe, Act Aware, and Describe, and only 26 items, met criteria for a good fit to data, a good construct reliability, a good convergent validity between the indicators of the constructs, and a good discriminant validity of the constructs. The second-order CFA model without the Nonreact factor also fitted the data well, but not so well as the first-order model. The MIMIC model of the effect of gender and to be or not a yoga practitioner in four facets of mindfulness fitted the data well, but only the variable to be or not a yoga practitioner was a statistically significant predictor of the scores on the facets of mindfulness, except Nonjudge. Statistically significant positive Pearson correlations were found between scores on the FFMQ subscales, FFMQ, and trait MAAS.