Assessing psychological inflexibility in university students: Development and validation of the acceptance and action questionnaire for university students (AAQ-US)

Abstract

This study sought to develop and validate a domain-specific measure of psychological inflexibility for university students, the acceptance and action questionnaire for university students (AAQ-US). Generic versions of the AAQ tend to not be as sensitive to changes in campus-specific functioning-a key outcome of interest in this population. An online survey was conducted with 425 undergraduate students. Psychometric analyses led to the refinement of a 12-item, single factor scale with strong internal consistency. Evidence for convergent validity was found with moderate to large correlations between the AAQ-US and measures of academic outcomes, mental health, and psychological inflexibility. The AAQ-US was a stronger predictor of academic outcomes than the AAQ-II (a general measure of psychological inflexibility) whereas the AAQ-II was more strongly related to mental health outcomes than the AAQ-US. Incremental validity for the AAQ-US was found for predicting both academic and mental health outcomes while controlling for the AAQ-II, though effects were stronger for academic outcomes. Overall, results indicate that the AAQ-US is a reliable and valid measure of psychological inflexibility among university students and may be particularly relevant in the context of academic outcomes.

Evaluating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Self-Help Books for College Student Mental Health

“…Concerns have been raised regarding whether the AAQ-II, the broader measure of psychological inflexibility upon which the AAQ-US is based (Bond et al, 2011), discriminates between negative affect and psychological inflexibility (Rochefort, Baldwin & Chmielewski, 2018). However, the AAQ-US has been found to be more weakly related, although still correlated, with measures of psychological distress and to be a stronger predictor of psychosocial functioning in school relative to the AAQ-II (Levin et al, 2019). In this study, internal consistency was adequate for the AAQ-US (α =.93).…”

“…Similarly, concerns have been raised regarding the degree to which self-report process measures, particularly the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (Bond et al, 2011), fail to discriminate between negative affect and psychological inflexibility (Rochefort et al, 2018). Although the AAQ-US has been found to be more weakly related to psychological distress and more strongly related to academic functioning than the AAQ-II (Levin et al, 2019), this limitation may be relevant to the processes of change used in this study. Future research would benefit from including behavioral measures or assessment data from other informants to provide a more rigorous assessment of mental health outcomes, processes of change, and their relations.…”

“…Although this is a new scale, preliminary research supports its reliability and validity (Levin et al, 2019). Concerns have been raised regarding whether the AAQ-II, the broader measure of psychological inflexibility upon which the AAQ-US is based (Bond et al, 2011), discriminates between negative affect and psychological inflexibility (Rochefort, Baldwin & Chmielewski, 2018).…”

Examining mediators of change in wellbeing, stress, and depression in a blended, Internet-based, ACT intervention for university students

“…All these point to the need for future studies to develop a more fine-grained or domain-specific measurement of PF to fit the needs of the population being studied. Future studies may benefit by using, for instance, the Acceptance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth ( Greco et al, 2008 ) or the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire for University Students ( Levin et al, 2019 ), both of which target young populations.…”

Development and initial validation of a brief questionnaire on the patients’ view of the in-session realization of the six core components of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

“…Some ACT processes were even more strongly associated with the outcome in CBT than in ACT, for example in the study by Arch et al (2012b) in which cognitive defusion predicted worry reductions more in CBT than in ACT. Several questionnaires have been published to measure a patient's skill in the ACT components: e. g., Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II (Bond et al, 2011); Acceptance and Action Questionnaire for University Students (Levin, Krafft, Pistorello, & Seeley, 2019); Comprehensive assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy processes (Francis, Dawson, & Golijani-Moghaddam, 2016); Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (McCracken, Vowles, & Eccleston, 2004), Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (Gillanders et al, 2014), Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (Gámez, Chmielewski, Kotov, Ruggero, Suzuki, & Watson, 2014), Tinnitus Acceptance Questionnaire (Weise, Kleinstäuber, Hesser, Westin, & Andersson, 2013), The Valued Living Questionnaire (Wilson, Sandoz, Kitchens, & Roberts, 2010). How strong patients improve their skills in ACT components might depend on the in-session realization of the ACT components.…”