Assessing acceptance in mindfulness with direct-worded items: The development and initial validation of the athlete mindfulness questionnaire
Open accessAbstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate a sport-specific mindfulness measure, the Athlete Mindfulness Questionnaire (AMQ), through 5 related studies using 4 separate samples of Chinese athletes. The AMQ is a 3-factor measure designed to assess mindfulness that reflects present-moment attention, awareness, and acceptance in a sport context. METHODS: In Study 1, an initial pool of items was generated based on previous literature, existing mindfulness scales, as well as interviews with and feedback from the athletes, coaches, and mindfulness experts. Initial support for the 3-factor structure of the AMQ was established via exploratory factor analysis in Study 2, and cross-validated through confirmatory factor analysis in Studies 3 and 4. In Study 5, a modified 3-factor AMQ with direct-worded acceptance items was examined in a fourth independent sample. RESULTS: Convergent and concurrent validities of the acceptance subscale failed to be established in Studies 3 and 4 which may be due to the inattention and confusion of the athletes whilst interpreting the reverse-worded items. A modified 16-item AMQ in Study 5 displayed satisfactory model fit and acceptable internal consistencies. Most importantly, convergent and concurrent validities of the 16-item AMQ were supported. The 3 subscales showed significant positive associations with mindfulness, flow, well-being, and positive affect and significant negative associations with experiential avoidance, burnout, and negative affect. CONCLUSION: The AMQ is a psychometrically sound measure of mindfulness in a sport context. The importance of using direct-worded acceptance items is discussed.
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Because awareness and refocusing are well-known phenomena in sport, control group athletes may have properly interpreted and understood the items related to these two subscales, making it easier to self-assess these two skills than acceptance.
“Given that awareness and refocusing are typical well-known phenomena in a sport context, control group athletes may have properly interpreted and understood the items related to these two subscales because they may relate closely to their experience. As such, it may be easier to self-assess these two skills than acceptance (Zhang et al., 2015).”
From Integrated mindfulness-based intervention: Effects on mindfulness skills, cognitive interference and performance satisfaction of young elite badminton players. (2020) · cites this paper as Zhang et al., 2015
The Discussion describes refocusing after distraction as relevant to sport and says athletes may misinterpret reverse-worded acceptance items. It does not say that control-group athletes understood awareness and refocusing items better, or that those skills are easier to self-assess than acceptance. The cited copy provides no page numbers for these passages. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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- Authors
- Zhang, C.-Q., Chung, P.-K., & Si, G.
- Affiliations
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- Education University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Corresponding author
- Chung, Pak-Kwong
- Venue
- Journal of Sport and Health Science
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-09
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 311-320
- ISSN
- 2213-2961 (ISSN-L)
- 2095-2546
- PMC
- PMC6189008
- OpenAlex
- W2210339916
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2
- FWCI
- 2.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of sport and health science/Journal of Sport and Health Science (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HKBU Institutional Repository (Hong Kong Baptist University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- mindfulness, acceptance, sport psychology, scale development, psychometric validation, awareness, Chinese athletes, burnout, experiential avoidance, flow, well-being, positive affect
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