Psychometrical characteristics and applied features of a Russian version of Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ)

Mindfulness as a way of affective cognitive regulation which assumes discretionary focus of attention in nonjudgmental or accepting manner to the experiences or own activities, is actively studied as a factor of psychological well-being. The problem of its adequate measurement, considering the difficulties of construct definition and availability of multiple models describing it, is of great interest. In this study we investigated the psychometrical characteristics of the Russian version of Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). The sample consisted of 385 adults aged from 21 to 60 (mean age 35.56). In order to verify five facet and four facet models of mindfulness we used the confirmatory factor analysis. To verify the convergent validity and to specify the factors meaning we have calculated the Spearman correlation index for mindfulness and other constructs. The methods we used are the following: the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Rumination Response Scale, White Bear Suppression Inventory, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (versions TAS26 and TAS20), the Emotional Intelligence Self-Evaluation, the Differential Test of Reflection, the short version of Big Five Questionnaire (50 points), the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. The scales of FFMQ showed internal consistency ranging from satisfactory to good. As verified by CFA, fit indicators were good for all variants of models, but four facet hierarchical model (omitting observation) fits better. Good convergent validity was shown for four facet mindfulness questionnaire scales, their values correlating directly with subjective well-being, emotional intelligence, and negatively with symptoms of depression, anxiety, alexithymia, 'bad' reflection, maladaptive mechanisms of emotional regulation, neuroticism, and time perspective of negative past. Observation as a component of mindfulness has specific features revealed both by structure of correlations and by CFA. Its increase could be an effect of mind-fulness as well as a result of sensitiveness, concentration on negative stimuli in particular. The interpretation of its level requires taking other components of mindfulness into account. Generally, the Russian language version of the FFMQ is recommended for psychodiagnostics study. We have also proposed a modification of the questionnaire omitting two items of the original version (verified by CFA results), joint analysis of observation value with the consolidated figures of four remaining scales.

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