Validating a Short-Form Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Among Chinese Early Adolescents

Objectives: While an increasing number of mindfulness-based interventions have shown promising effects in improving child and youth well-being, mindfulness research remains challenged by using valid multifaceted measurements to operationalize the complicated concept of mindfulness across cultural contexts. This study examines the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the short-form Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) in Chinese nonclinical early adolescents.

Method: Participants were 551 Chinese early adolescents (mean age = 10.38 ± 0.80, 41.38% girls). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were conducted to test factor structure and dimensionality of the short-form FFMQ. Measurement invariance was tested by gender and grade. Internal consistency and convergent validity were assessed.

Results: Our results support the validity of a three-factor, 15-item version of the FFMQ (FFMQ-15) that includes Attention (4 items from the original Actaware subscale, 1 item from the Describe subscale), Observe (4 items from the Observe subscale, 1 item from the Nonreact subscale), and Internal Awareness (3 items from the Nonjudge subscale, 2 items from the Describe subscale). Cronbach’s α for the FFMQ-15 total score was 0.82, and McDonald’s ω was 0.86 (subscales: α = 0.66 to 0.79, ω = 0.71 to 0.82). FFMQ-15 showed acceptable measurement invariance across gender and grade. These findings support the internal consistency and validity of FFMQ-15 among Chinese early adolescents.

Conclusions: This study validates a short-version FFMQ among Chinese early adolescents. Our findings warrant further cross-cultural research of adolescents’ understanding of mindfulness facets.

Preregistration: This study is not preregistered.