Measuring Experiential Avoidance and Psychological Inflexibility: The Spanish Version of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire - II

Background: Experiential avoidance and psychological inflexibility have been recently found to be important constructs related to a wide range of psychological disorders and quality of life. The current study presents psychometric and factor structure data concerning the Spanish translation of a general measure of both constructs: the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire - II (AAQ-II).

Method: Six samples, with a total of 712 participants, from several independent studies were analyzed.

Results: Data were very similar to the ones obtained in the original AAQ-II version. The internal consistency across the different samples was good (between a= .75 and a= .93). The differences between clinical and nonclinical samples were statistically significant and the overall factor analysis yielded to a one-factor solution. The AAQ-II scores were significantly related to general psychopathology and quality of life measures.

Conclusions: This Spanish translation of the AAQ-II emerges as a reliable and valid measure of experiential avoidance and psychological inflexibility.