Inflexible youngsters: psychological and psychopathological correlates of the avoidance and fusion questionnaire for youths in nonclinical Dutch adolescents

Peter Muris*, Cor Meesters, Anke Herings, Marieke Jansen, Chris Vossen, Pina Kersten

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The present study examined psychological and psychopathological correlates of psychological inflexibility as measured by the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y) in two independent samples of nonclinical Dutch adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years (Ns being 184 and 157). Participants completed a survey containing the AFQ-Y and scales assessing mindfulness, thought suppression, self-compassion, self-worth, self-efficacy, and internalizing/externalizing symptoms. In both samples, the AFQ-Y was found to be a reliable measure of psychological inflexibility that correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with other psychological constructs. Most importantly, AFQ-Y scores correlated positively with internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and in most cases, these associations remained significant when controlling for other measures. These findings suggest that psychological inflexibility is an important factor in youth psychopathology that needs to be further investigated in future research.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1381-1392
JournalMindfulness
Volume8
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2017

Keywords

  • Psychological inflexibility
  • Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AYQ-Y)
  • Internalizing and externalizing
  • Adolescents

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