Letting go of self: the creation of the nonattachment to self scale
Open accessAbstract
The Buddhist notion of nonattachment relates to an engagement with experience with flexibility and without fixation on achieving specified outcomes. The present study sought to define, create and validate a new measure of nonattachment as it applies to notions of the self. A new construct of ‘nonattachment to self’ (NTS) was developed, defined the absence of fixation on self-related concepts, thoughts and feelings and a capacity to flexibly interact with these concepts, thoughts and feelings without trying to control them. Two studies were conducted in the development of the new scale. With expert consultation, study 1 (n = 445) established a single factor, internally consistent 7-item scale via exploratory factor analysis. Study 2 (n = 388, n = 338) confirmed the factor structure of the new 7-item scale using confirmatory factor analyses. Study 2 also found the new scale to be internally consistent, with evidence supporting its test-retest, criterion, and construct validity. Nonattachment to self emerged as a unique way of relating to the self, distinct from general nonattachment, that aligned with higher levels of well-being and adaptive functioning.
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Attachment is not an all-or-none phenomenon; it exists along a continuum.
“These instruments either implicitly or explicitly acknowledge that attachment is not an all-or-none phenomena. It exists along a continuum.”
From Aspects of acceptance: building a shared conceptual understanding (2024) · cites this paper as Whitehead et al., 2018
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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“Furthermore, the Buddhist concept of non-attachment is similar to decentring and was increased as a result of psilocybin administered within a spiritually supportive context (60, 100).”
BackgroundWhitehead, R., Bates, G., Elphinstone, B., & Yang, Y. (2021) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/papt.12333 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citationAspects of acceptance: building a shared conceptual understanding
Mrazek, M. D., Dow, B. R., Richelle, J., Pasch, A. M., Godderis, N., Pamensky, T. A., Rutila, B. A., & Mrazek, A. J. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1423976 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Widely used self-report instruments intended to measure non-attachment have been inspired by these contemplative frameworks, and they include items like “As time goes on, I feel less and less of a need to be a certain way” (Sahdra et al., 2010; Whitehead et al., 2018).”
Method
- Authors
- Whitehead, R., Bates, G., Elphinstone, B., Yang, Y., & Murray, G.
- Affiliations
- Swinburne University of Technology (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Bates, Glen
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2018-12-13
- Volume
- 9
- Pages
- 2544-2544
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6300706
- OpenAlex
- W2904332617
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 2.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Open (London South Bank University) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- non-attachment, Buddhist psychology, scale development, construct validity, well-being, adaptive behavior, self-acceptance
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