Dispositional Associations Between Interoceptive Attention Tendencies and Effortful Control: Cross‐sectional Findings from an Online National Survey of Japanese Working Adults

Abstract

Interoceptive attention tendencies (IATs) have been theorized to include facets of awareness and evaluative aspects for skillfully attending toward one's bodily sensations in a regulatory manner. However, the relations between IATs and factors for the trait‐like control of behavioral effort are unknown. Here, we tested associations between IATs measured via the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) and control‐related factors from the Effortful Control Scale (ECS) for adults in a nationally representative online survey of 500 Japanese working adults (analytic sample, N = 463; 274 females, Mage = 46.63 years, SD = 11.58 years). The results of the confirmatory factor analysis for the MAIA showed acceptable model fit for the six‐factor model similar to previous studies with Japanese respondents. Adjusting for the influence of age and gender, partial correlations indicated that the evaluative dimensions of the MAIA were positively correlated with the Inhibitory Control, Activation Control, and Attentional Control factors of the ECS (Pearson's partial rs range .14 to .25, ps < .01). Exploratory multiple regression analysis indicated that the Attention Regulation factor of the MAIA was a statistically significant predictor of effortful control modeled as total score. Taken together, the results were theoretically consistent with previous studies investigating relations with trait‐like factors of personality and mental health indicators for full‐time workers in Japan. Relative to the constructs of awareness, our empirical correlations provide specificity for the construct validity of IATs with trait indicators of effortful control and implications for implementation research.

Editorial: Psychological Science of Interoception

“…Utilizing the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA; Mehling et al, 2012), Fujikawa et al (2023) explored the connections between interoceptive perception processes and trait-like control of behavioral effort. Specifically, two components of MAIA-Attention Regulation, denoting the ability to sustain and manage attention to bodily sensations; and Trust, indicating an individual's perception of their body as secure and reliable-exhibited positive associations with effortful control.…”