Mindfulness or Mindlessness?
A Modified Version of the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS)
Abstract
The 15 items of the Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003) are negatively worded and assumed to assess mindfulness. However, there are indications of differences between the original MAAS and a version with the positively rephrased MAAS items (“mirror items”). The present study examines whether the mindfulness facet “mindful attention and awareness” (MAA) can be measured with both positively and negatively worded items if we take method effects due to item wording into account. To this end, the 15 negatively worded items of the MAAS and additionally 13 positively rephrased items were assessed (N = 602). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) models with and without regard to method effects were carried out and evaluated by means of model fit. As a result, the positively and negatively worded items should be seen as different methods that influence the construct validity of mindfulness. Furthermore, a modified version of the MAAS (MAAS-Short) with five negatively worded items (taken from the MAAS) and five positively worded items (“mirror items”) was introduced as an alternative to assess MAA. The MAAS-Short appears superior to the original MAAS. The results and the limitations of the present study are discussed.
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