Abstract
The factor structure of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) seems to vary across samples depending on whether meditators or non-meditators are studied and whether a sample is analyzed before or after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. The current study illustrates the inconsistencies typically found (e.g., whether all five facets can load on an overall construct of mindfulness), as well as provides and tests alternative explanations in three samples with different levels of meditation experience (i.e., current meditators, past meditators, and non-meditators). Altogether, 2247 German-speaking volunteers completed the FFMQ and reported their meditation experiences online. Results showed that the scaling of three facets of the FFMQ (i.e., observing, describing, and non-judging) were constrained in all samples. The past meditators revealed unique features in terms of their mindfulness level: (1) stopping practicing meditation reduced their levels of mindfulness in facets of awareness, non-judging, and non-reacting, yet observing and describing seemed to remain and (2) those past meditators with intensive trainings scored higher in all five facets than those past meditators who practiced less. The CFA yielded a good fit in all three samples. A hierarchical factor analysis showed how the factors unfolded from level to level and demonstrated that in particular the observing facet loaded on the overall construct of mindfulness differently across the three samples. The empirical results confirmed the alternative interpretations on why the discrepancy regarding the loading of the “observing” facet on an overall mindfulness construct occurs, but future studies might think of investigating each hypothesis specifically.
Highlights
Derived originally from ancient Buddhist practice, mindfulness (B[...] to pay attention in a particular way – on purpose, to the present moment, nonjudgmentally,^ Kabat-Zinn 1994, p. 4) has received considerable attention and developed enormously over the past 30 years
Often a nonsignificant correlation between observing and non-judging (e.g., Baer et al 2006, 2008; Lilja et al 2011; Michalak et Mindfulness (2019) 10:492–505 al. 2016) was found, and only four of the facets constituted to the overall mindfulness construct. The former pattern was found in participants with meditation experience or patients after participating in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT; Segal et al 2013), while the latter was found in participants without meditation experience or patients before participating in MBCT (Baer et al 2006; Gu et al 2016; Williams et al 2014)
The S/SE ratio smaller than − 2.56 could be an indicator that these scales were constrained (Ghasemi and Zahediasl 2012). These results aligned with our assumption that some facets of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) were constrained and that they were skewed to different extents
Summary
Derived originally from ancient Buddhist practice, mindfulness (B[...] to pay attention in a particular way – on purpose, to the present moment, nonjudgmentally,^ Kabat-Zinn 1994, p. 4) has received considerable attention and developed enormously over the past 30 years. A few studies used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to compare the correlated five-factor model (which assumes that the scale measures five distinct, but related, facets of mindfulness) with the hierarchical fivefactor model (in which the five factors were indicators of an overall mindfulness construct). They found out that the latter performed worse than the former, especially among the nonmeditators (e.g., Hou et al 2014; Veehof et al 2011). We encountered convincing evidence suggesting that the inter-correlations of the five facets and the hierarchical five-factor model of the FFMQ cannot be replicated consistently across different samples (meditators vs. non-meditators) and time points (before vs. after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy)
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