Validation of the Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale (AIS) among treatment-seeking smokers.
Open accessAbstract
The Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale (AIS; Gifford et al., 2004) was derived as a smoking-specific measure of experiential avoidance. However, there has been little investigation of the psychometric proprieties of the AIS and no published work on the topic. The current study aimed to test the reliability and validity of the AIS among a sample of adult treatment-seeking daily smokers (n = 465; 48.2% female, 17.8 [SD = 9.60] cigarettes per day). The AIS was administered at 3 time points (baseline, quit-day, and 1 month postquit) as part of a larger smoking cessation trial. An exploratory factor analysis indicated a 2-factor solution, described by inflexibility and avoidance because of smoking related "thoughts/feelings" (9 items) and "somatic sensations" (4 items). Results revealed that the AIS-total and factor scores demonstrated high internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The AIS total and factor scores also displayed high convergent, discriminant, and incremental predictive validity with theoretically relevant smoking and affective variables. The present data suggest that the AIS measure appears to be a valid and reliable smoking-specific index of experiential avoidance.
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The 27-item Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale is a validated tool that assesses willingness to experience physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts that cue smoking.
“Acceptance of triggers to smoke was assessed via the 27-item Avoidance and Inflexibility Scale [67], a validated tool that assesses how willing is someone to experience physical sensations, emotions, and thoughts that cue smoking [68].”
From Can an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-Based Smartphone App Help Individuals with Mental Health Disorders Quit Smoking? (2024) · cites this paper as [68]
The Abstract reports evidence that the AIS is a valid and reliable smoking-specific measure of experiential avoidance. The Measures section says it assesses responses to smoking-related thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, but identifies it as a 13-item scale, not a 27-item scale. (LLM, conf=0.91)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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“We hypothesized that this might relate to their similarly high (relative to the no MHC group): (1) prevalence of screening positive for current panic disorder symptoms, (2) scores on the measure of experiential avoidance (AIS), and (3) number of smokers in the home, all of which have been associated with cessation in…”
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Farris, S. G., Zvolensky, M. J., DiBello, A. M., & Schmidt, N. B.
- Affiliations
- Florida State University (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Assessment
- Published
- 2015-06
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 467-477
- ISSN
- 1040-3590 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-134X
- PMC
- PMC4684259
- OpenAlex
- W2172075151
- Cited by
- 43
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 7
- FWCI
- 3.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychological Assessment (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01-MH076629-01A1)
- National Institute of Drug Abuse (F31-DA035564)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- experiential avoidance, inflexibility, smoking, smoking cessation, psychometric validation, treatment-seeking smokers, somatic sensation, incremental predictive validity, convergent validity, test-retest reliability
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Anxiety, Avoidance Learning, Depression, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Psychometrics, Smoking, Tobacco Use Disorder, Reproducibility of Results, Smoking Cessation, Young Adult
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