07-01-2025 | ORIGINAL PAPER
Confirmation and Validation of a Chinese version of the Equanimity Scale
Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness
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Objectives
Equanimity is widely recognized as a fundamental component of change within mindfulness practice. The Equanimity Scale-16 (ES-16), which consists of two subscales—Experiential Acceptance and Non-reactivity—was designed to measure equanimity. However, the cross-cultural applicability of this scale has not yet been evaluated. The present study assessed the psychometric properties of the Equanimity Scale in the context of Eastern collectivist culture.
Method
A total of 569 college students (371 females and 198 males) were recruited through two online data platforms. They completed the Equanimity Scale (ES-16) alongside several measures, including the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Nonattachment Scale, the Spiritual Index of Well-Being Scale, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. The exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to examine the factorial validity of the ES-16, focusing on one-factor, two-factor, and bifactor models. Meanwhile, the reliability, convergent validity, and incremental validity were examined through correlation analyses and hierarchical regression analyses.
Results
Six items (1, 4, 7, 9, 10, and 11) in the original scale with 16 items were removed for lower communalities (< 0.30), lower cross-load difference (< 0.15), or the smaller number of factor items (< 2) in the Chinese context. The remaining 10 items did not support the two-factor model; instead, they indicated support for the bifactor model, which provided the best fit. The Equanimity Scale-10 (ES-10) demonstrated good convergent validity, discriminant validity, construct reliability, and predictive validity within the Chinese cultural context. However, it explained for only 41.89% of the total variance.
Conclusions
The ES-10 is a valid and reliable self-report measure for assessing equanimity within a bifactor model in the Chinese context. However, the variance explained for ES-16 and ES-10 is relatively low, with none exceeding 50%. Additionally, there are significant conceptual differences between these measures and the non-reactivity factor of the FFMQ. Consequently, it is recommended to develop an assessment tool with improved content validity and structural validity to better capture the construct of equanimity.