An Examination of the Factor Structure of the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory.

The Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI), a 60-item self-report measure, assesses the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Hexaflex. The factor structure of the MPFI was examined in this study. In a community sample of adults (N = 827), four models (correlated six-factor, one-factor, higher order, and bifactor) were tested for each of the constructs of interest (i.e., psychological flexibility and psychological inflexibility). All models, with the exception of the one-factor, provided adequate fit to the data. Differences between the three adequate fitting models were trivial in magnitude. Additional statistical indices from the bifactor models indicated that the general factors accounted for the large majority of reliable variance. The majority of the domain-specific factors evidenced redundancy with their respective general factors. Results from a series of structural regressions indicated that the domain-specific factors did not provide additional incremental utility above and beyond the general factors in predicting two relevant clinical constructs (i.e., health anxiety and depression). These results provide support for the use of the MPFI Flexibility and Inflexibility total scores, but not subscale scores. The MPFI may require further refinement to either greatly reduce the length of the measure, or to ensure that subscales have incremental utility.

The interactive effect of event centrality and maladaptive metacognitive beliefs on posttraumatic stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth.

OBJECTIVE: Event centrality, the extent to which a traumatic event becomes a reference point for understanding the world and one's role in it, is related to both posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Given that higher event centrality is associated with both of these seemingly disparate postevent trajectories, research on potential moderators of these relationships is needed to better understand the conditions under which event centrality relates to one or both outcomes. Maladaptive metacognitive beliefs (i.e., beliefs about thinking, Wells & Matthews, 1994, 1996) might be one individual difference factor that influences the degree to which event centrality is related to PTS symptoms and PTG. METHOD: In a laboratory session, undergraduate students (N = 149) completed self-report measures of event centrality, maladaptive metacognitive beliefs (negative and positive), PTS symptoms, and PTG. Analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling in order to account for shared variance between PTS symptoms and PTG. RESULTS: As predicted, the positive relationship between event centrality and PTS symptoms became increasingly stronger as maladaptive metacognitive beliefs increased (i.e., both positive and negative metacognitive beliefs). The positive relationship between event centrality and PTG was stronger as maldaptive negative, but not positive, metacognitive beliefs decreased. CONCLUSIONS: Study findings suggest that treatments designed to reduce maladaptive metacognitive beliefs could lead to reductions in PTS symptoms and increased opportunity for PTG among those with highly central traumatic events. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The buffering effect of attentional control on the relationship between cognitive fusion and anxiety.

Cognitive fusion has been identified as a risk factor for anxiety. Evidence suggests that those with better attentional control may be able to flexibly shift attention from an internal to external focus, thus reducing contact with negative self-referent thoughts. As such, attentional control was examined as a moderator of the relation between cognitive fusion and anxiety in this two-part study. Adult participants (N = 597) completed self-report measures in Study 1. In Study 2, adult student participants (N = 173) completed self-report measures of cognitive fusion and anxiety, as well as behavioral measures that assessed three specific attentional control processes (i.e., inhibition, shifting, working memory updating). As predicted, attentional control moderated the relation between cognitive fusion and anxiety such that the strength of the relation decreased as attentional control increased. The results of Study 2 suggest that inhibitory ability is the attentional control process that accounts for this effect. Taken together, results suggest the possibility that attentional control (especially inhibitory ability) may be a protective factor against the development of anxiety among those with higher levels of cognitive fusion. The use of experimental and longitudinal study designs will be an important next step in this line of research to further clarify the nature of relations among cognitive fusion, attentional control, and anxiety. Results from an exploratory analysis, in which depressive symptoms served as the outcome variable, will also be discussed.