Psychological Flexibility Among Competitive Athletes: A Psychometric Investigation of a New Scale
Open accessAbstract
There is increasing interest in applying acceptance and mindfulness interventions among athletes. However, there is a lack of sport-specific psychometrically evaluated scales to measure the impact of these interventions. The present study describes the development of a measure: the Psychological Flexibility in Sport Scale (PFSS). Its validity was tested in two studies. In the first study, with 152 elite athletes from various sports, explorative factor analysis was used to evaluate the scale's validity, and one factor emerged with seven items. Significant correlations between psychological flexibility, performance, and quality of life were found. Moreover, the PFSS was significantly negatively associated with age, number of years in sport, and number of years as an elite athlete. In the second study, the confirmatory factor analysis with a new population (252 athletes) supported the one-factor solution. Further, positive associations were found with anxiety (BAI) and depression (BDI-I), indicating construct validity. In conclusion, this study presents a scale for measuring psychological flexibility in a broad range of athletes, with satisfactory psychometric properties and the potential to be a useful instrument for both researchers and clinicians in the sport field.
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SmartACT likely operates through complementary pathways-top-down regulation (ACT), sensorimotor simulation (imagery), and autonomic/attentional tuning (hypnosis)-to yield concurrent gains in motor efficiency and reductions in psychosomatic distress.
“Within this framework, SmartACT likely operates through complementary pathways—top-down regulation (ACT), sensorimotor simulation (imagery), and autonomic/attentional tuning (hypnosis)—to yield concurrent gains in motor efficiency and reductions in psychosomatic distress [44,49,50,51,58,59,60,61,62,74,75,76].”
From Effects of the SmartACT Intervention on Motor and Psychological Variables in Adolescent Athletes: A Controlled Trial Using BlazePod and Microgate. (2025) · cites this paper as [60]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the original and Persian adaptations of SPEÖ, the relationship between psychological flexibility and depression and anxiety was examined.
“SPEÖ'nün orijinalinde ve İ ran diline uyarlanan ölçekte, psikolojik esneklik kavram ı ile depresyon ve anksiyete aras ı ndaki ili ş ki incelenmi ş tir.”
From The Psychological Flexibility Sport Scale: Adaptation, Validity and Reliability Study (2023) · cites this paper as [2]
The Introduction and Study 2 Results say the original PFSS examined its relationships with anxiety and depression, and the Concurrent Validity section reports significant correlations with both. The cited paper does not establish that a Persian adaptation examined those relationships. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the original and Persian adaptations of SPEÖ, individuals with low psychological flexibility were found to have high depression and anxiety levels.
“Her iki ölçekteki sonuçlara bak ı ld ı ğ ı nda, psikolojik esneklik seviyesi dü ş ük olan bireylerin depresyon ve anksiyete seviyelerinin yüksek oldu ğ u bulunmu ş tur.”
From The Psychological Flexibility Sport Scale: Adaptation, Validity and Reliability Study (2023) · cites this paper as [2]
The Results (Concurrent Validity; page not provided) report that higher experiential avoidance was associated with higher depression and anxiety in athletes using the original PFSS. The Limitations section says the study included only Swedish-speaking athletes; this source does not establish the finding for a Persian adaptation. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn studies, high depression and anxiety levels were found to be associated with the formation of experiential avoidance behaviors within psychological inflexibility.
“Yap ı lan ara ş t ı rmalarda, depresyon ve anksiyete seviyelerinin yüksek bulunmas ı , psikolojik kat ı l ı k içerisindeki ya ş ant ı sal kaç ı nma davran ı ş lar ı n ı n olu ş mas ı ile ili ş kili bulunmu ş tur. 2”
From The Psychological Flexibility Sport Scale: Adaptation, Validity and Reliability Study (2023) · cites this paper as [2]
The Results (Concurrent Validity) report that higher experiential avoidance was associated with higher depression and anxiety. The study reports correlations, not evidence that elevated depression or anxiety is associated with the formation of avoidance behaviors. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAll 7 items in the PFSS are reverse-scored.
“Ölçekte bulunan 7 maddenin hepsi ters maddedir.”
From The Psychological Flexibility Sport Scale: Adaptation, Validity and Reliability Study (2023) · cites this paper as [2]
The Development of the PFSS section says the items were chosen to represent psychological inflexibility, and the Exploratory Factor Analysis section says the final scale has seven items. Neither section says the seven items are reverse-scored; the Validity section reports that higher PFSS scores are associated with lower quality of life and performance. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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The Psychological Flexibility Sport Scale: Adaptation, Validity and Reliability Study
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Liu, X., Pan, J., & Cai, S. (2025) · Frontiers in Medicine · doi:10.3389/fmed.2025.1602675
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Kara, N. Ş. (2026) · Ankara Üniversitesi Beden Eğitimi ve Spor Yüksekokulu SPORMETRE Beden Eğitimi ve Spor Bilimleri Dergisi · doi:10.33689/spormetre.1759431
Basketball participation improves sleep quality through psychological flexibility in adolescents
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Far, Y. K., Bozorgi, Z. D., Homaei, R., & Safarzadeh, S. (2026) · Journal of Clinical Research in Paramedical Sciences · doi:10.5812/jcrps-173740
Engelli Sporcuların Psikolojik Esneklik ve Sosyal Destek Düzeylerinin İncelenmesi
Ayşegül Funda, A. L. P., & Daşkesen, S. S. (2026) · Dede Korkut Spor Bilimleri Dergisi · doi:10.71243/dksbd.1990416
- Authors
- Johles, L., Gustafsson, H., Jansson-Fröjmark, M., Classon, C., Hasselqvist, J., & Lundgren, T.
- Affiliations
- Karlstad University (SE)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Johles, Lis
- Venue
- Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2020-09-18
- Volume
- 2
- Pages
- 110-110
- ISSN
- 2624-9367 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7739682
- OpenAlex
- W3087639711
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 0.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Sports and Active Living (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digitala vetenskapliga arkivet (Diva) (Karlstad 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
- psychological flexibility, competitive athletes, scale development, psychometric validation, elite athletes, athletic performance, quality of life, anxiety, depression
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