Psychological flexibility: What we know, what we do not know, and what we think we know

Doorley, James; Goodman, Fallon R.; Kelso, Kerry C.; Kashdan, Todd B.

doi:10.1111/spc3.12566

Cited by 142 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…The results confirmed patterns in prior studies but also provided some novel findings. In accord with other studies, psychological flexibility (Doorley et al, 2020) as well as selfcompassion (Stoeber et al, 2020;Pandey et al, 2021) were strong predictors of well-being. Our results were also consistent with findings that each factor accounts for unique variance in well-being in prior (Woodruff et al, 2014;Marshall and Brockman, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion as Predictors of Well-Being: Mediating Role of a Balanced Time Perspective

Pyszkowska

Rönnlund

2021

Front. Psychol.

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Measures of psychological flexibility and self-compassion are strongly associated with well-being. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that these relationships are mediated by a balanced time perspective, a proposed ideal way of relating to the past, present, and future that may correspond with an ability to flexibly switch temporal focus. For this purpose, a Polish community sample (N = 421) responded to a web-survey including measures of psychological flexibility (AAQ-II), self-compassion (SCS), two measures of positive aspects of well-being (Satisfaction with Life, Quality of Life), and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI). Structural equation models, involving a measure of deviation from a balanced time perspective (DBTP) as a mediator of relationships between latent-level psychological flexibility, self-compassion and well-being factors, were tested. We examined separate models for psychological flexibility and self-compassion and a model including both constructs. The results for separate models were consistent with partial mediation of relationships with well-being, both for psychological flexibility and self-compassion. Results for the analysis involving both constructs, suggested unique contributions of both to DBTP, which in turn predicted well-being, but the link between psychological flexibility and DBTP appeared to be the strongest. In further analyses, three ZTPI dimensions were identified as most critical, namely Past Positive, Present Fatalistic, and Past Negative, each of which were part of an indirect effect on well-being. Psychological flexibility in particular, showed a strong negative association with a Past Negative orientation. Taken together, the results indicate that time perspective is a factor to understand the links between psychological flexibility/self-compassion and well-being. While the results pertaining to self-compassion were consistent with results of a couple of prior studies, this is, to our knowledge, the first demonstration of a link between psychological flexibility and a balanced time perspective. These findings should be relevant for clinical research and practice.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion as Predictors of Well-Being: Mediating Role of a Balanced Time Perspective

Pyszkowska

Rönnlund

2021

Front. Psychol.

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“…The challenge of understanding the interpersonal aspects of psychological flexibility was recently highlighted [ 90 ], and it would seem our findings confirm that this is indeed difficult, perhaps one that necessitates a whole separate line of studies. Adding to the complexity, a recent review paper [ 91 ] criticizes the lack of coherence in defining PF in the applied research literature, and suggests the use of a newly developed, more idiographically flexible measure [ 92 ], which would be interesting and challenging to adapt to group level settings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 65%

The Group Nurturance Inventory — initial psychometric evaluation using Rasch and factor analysis

Johansson

Biglan

2021

BMC Public Health

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Background This paper describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a behavioral assessment instrument primarily intended for use with workgroups in any type of organization. The instrument was developed based on the Nurturing Environments framework which describes four domains important for health, well-being, and productivity; minimizing toxic social interactions, teaching and reinforcing prosocial behaviors, limiting opportunities for problem behaviors, and promoting psychological flexibility. The instrument is freely available to use and adapt under a CC-BY license and intended as a tool that is easy for any group to use and interpret to identify key behaviors to improve their psychosocial work environment. Methods Questionnaire data of perceived frequency of behaviors relevant to nurturance were collected from nine different organizations in Sweden. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, Rasch analysis, and correlations to investigate relationships with relevant workplace measures. Results The results indicate that the 23-item instrument is usefully divided in two factors, which can be described as risk and protective factors. Toxic social behaviors make up the risk factor, while the protective factor includes prosocial behavior, behaviors that limit problems, and psychological flexibility. Rasch analysis showed that the response categories work as intended for all items, item fit is satisfactory, and there was no significant differential item functioning across age or gender. Targeting indicates that measurement precision is skewed towards lower levels of both factors, while item thresholds are distributed over the range of participant abilities, particularly for the protective factor. A Rasch score table is available for ordinal to interval data transformation. Conclusions This initial analysis shows promising results, while more data is needed to investigate group-level measurement properties and validation against concrete longitudinal outcomes. We provide recommendations for how to work in practice with a group based on their assessment data, and how to optimize the measurement precision further. By using a two-dimensional assessment with ratings of both frequency and perceived importance of behaviors the instrument can help facilitate a participatory group development process. The Group Nurturance Inventory is freely available to use and adapt for both commercial and non-commercial use and could help promote transparent assessment practices in organizational and group development.

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“…The challenge of understanding the interpersonal aspects of psychological flexibility was recently highlighted [88], and it would seem our findings confirm that this is indeed difficult, perhaps one that necessitates a whole separate line of studies. Adding to the complexity, a recent review paper [89] criticizes the lack of coherence in defining PF in the applied research literature, and suggests the use of a newly developed, more idiographically flexible measure [90], which would be interesting and challenging to adapt to group level settings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

The Group Nurturance Inventory - Initial Psychometric Evaluation Using Rasch and Factor Analysis

Johansson¹,

Biglan²

2020

Preprint

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This paper describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a behavioral assessment instrument aimed primarily at workgroups. The instrument is based on the Nurturing Environments framework which describes four domains important for health, well-being, and productivity; minimizing toxic social interactions, teaching and reinforcing prosocial behaviors, limiting opportunities for problem behaviors, and promoting psychological flexibility. In this article, questionnaire data of perceived frequency of behaviors relevant to nurturance are analyzed using factor analysis and Rasch analysis. The results indicate a 23-item instrument that best fit a bifactor model with a general nurturance factor explaining 87.1% of the variance in unit-weighted total scores, and three specific factors (toxic behavior, prosocial behavior, and behaviors that limit problems). Rasch analysis showed that the response scale works well, item fit is satisfactory, and no differential item functioning for sex or age. Targeting is skewed towards lower levels of nurturance and has a good spread over the range of participant abilities. The instrument is freely available to use and adapt under a CC-BY license and intended as a tool that is easy for any group to use and interpret to identify key behaviors to improve their psychosocial work environment. By using a two-dimensional assessment with ratings of both frequency and perceived importance of behaviors the instrument can help facilitate a participatory group development process. We provide recommendations for how to work with a group based on their data, and how to optimize the measurement precision further. Next steps in research, such as group-level analysis, collecting observational data, and validation against concrete longitudinal outcomes, are suggested. This instrument could help promote transparent assessment practices in organizational and group development.

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Psychological flexibility: What we know, what we do not know, and what we think we know

Abstract: Psychological flexibility is the tendency to respond to situations in ways that facilitate valued goal pursuit. Psychological flexibility is particularly useful when challenges arise during goal pursuit that produce distress. In

Cited by 142 publications

References 72 publications

Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion as Predictors of Well-Being: Mediating Role of a Balanced Time Perspective

Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion as Predictors of Well-Being: Mediating Role of a Balanced Time Perspective

The Group Nurturance Inventory — initial psychometric evaluation using Rasch and factor analysis

The Group Nurturance Inventory - Initial Psychometric Evaluation Using Rasch and Factor Analysis

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