Psychological Inflexibility and Child Anxiety

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Background:

• Psychological flexibility, a key outcome of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), is crucial for mental well-being.
• Measuring psychological flexibility in middle childhood (8-10 years) is vital for assessing ACT's effectiveness in this age group.
• The Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y) measures psychological inflexibility but requires validation in younger children.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the factor structure, construct validity, and reliability of the AFQ-Y in middle-aged children (8-10 years).
• To assess the relationship between psychological inflexibility and anxiety in this age group.
• To determine the suitability of the 17-item AFQ-Y and its 8-item short version (AFQ-Y-8) for measuring psychological inflexibility in 8-10 year olds.

Main Methods:

• Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the AFQ-Y's structure.
• The study included 267 children aged 8-10 years recruited from primary schools.
• Children completed the AFQ-Y and child anxiety questionnaires during regular class time.

Main Results:

• The 8-item version (AFQ-Y-8) demonstrated better appropriateness for measuring psychological inflexibility in 8-10 year olds compared to the 17-item version.
• A significant positive correlation was found between psychological inflexibility and child anxiety.
• The findings support the utility of the AFQ-Y-8 in this population.

Conclusions:

• The AFQ-Y-8 is a reliable and valid measure of psychological inflexibility in middle childhood.
• Early intervention with acceptance and commitment therapy may be beneficial for addressing child anxiety, given the cognitive skills involved.
• Further research validating ACT interventions for child anxiety is warranted.