The brief experiential avoidance questionnaire: development and initial validation.
The 62-item Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ) was recently developed to assess a broad range of experiential avoidance (EA) content. However, practical clinical and research considerations made a briefer measure of EA desirable. Using items from the original 62-item MEAQ, a 15-item scale was created that tapped content from each of the MEAQ's six dimensions. Items were selected on the basis of their performance in 3 samples: undergraduates (n = 363), psychiatric outpatients (n = 265), and community adults (n = 215). These items were then evaluated using 2 additional samples (314 undergraduates and 201 psychiatric outpatients) and cross-validated in 2 new, independent samples (283 undergraduates and 295 community adults). The resulting measure (Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire; BEAQ) demonstrated good internal consistency. It also exhibited strong convergence with respect to each of the MEAQ's 6 dimensions. The BEAQ demonstrated expected associations with measures of avoidance, psychopathology, and quality of life and was distinguishable from negative affectivity and neuroticism.
University of Iowa.
Wakiza
W
Gámez
Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University.
Michael
M
Chmielewski
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Stony Brook University.
Roman
R
Kotov
Department of Psychology, University of North Texas.
Camilo
C
Ruggero
Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame.
Nadia
N
Suzuki
Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame.
David
D
Watson
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003717:Denial, Psychological; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult