Development and Initial Validation of the State Four Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Mindfulness is a key psychological construct.
• Existing measures often assess trait mindfulness, not state mindfulness.
• A need exists for validated tools to measure momentary mindfulness facets.

Purpose of the Study:

• To psychometrically validate the State Four Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (state-4FMQ).
• To adapt the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (trait-FFMQ) for state mindfulness assessment.
• To establish the reliability and validity of the state-4FMQ.

Main Methods:

• Two pre-registered studies involving undergraduate participants.
• Participants engaged in mindfulness meditation and completed the state-4FMQ.
• Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were employed.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis supported a four-factor structure for the state-4FMQ, excluding Nonreactivity.
• The state-4FMQ and its short-form demonstrated good internal consistency.
• Evidence for convergent, predictive, and construct validity was established.

Conclusions:

• The state-4FMQ is a psychometrically sound measure of state mindfulness.
• The questionnaire can assess multiple facets of momentary mindfulness.
• The findings support the use of the state-4FMQ across various contexts.