Mindfulness Skills and Psychological Inflexibility: Two Useful Tools for a Clinical Assessment for Adolescents with Internalizing Behaviors

Abstract

Objectives: Two processes that have been largely studied in relation to psychological wellbeing during adolescence are mindfulness and psychological flexibility. Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) and Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y) are specifically developed for children and adolescents and their items are built to assess specific processes. This study aims to identify cut-offs detecting adolescents with internalizing disorders, and describing specific behavioral repertoires within participants with high Psychological Inflexibility and poor Mindfulness Skills. Method: Participants (N = 1336), aged between 11 and 18, were recruited. Participants completed the Italian versions of CAMM, AFQ-Y, and Youth Self-Report (YSR). To determine the cut-offs for CAMM and AFQ-Y discriminating participants with internalizing disorders two receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed. Furthermore, to identify homogeneous groups with specific behavioral repertoires two Classification Tree Analyses (CTA) were performed. Results: The cut-offs identified are 24 for the CAMM, and 11 for the AFQ-Y. The CTA showed that low Mindfulness Skills and Psychological Inflexibility share a specific feature: namely, depressive symptoms. However, social withdrawal seems to be associated only with low Mindfulness Skills, while somatic symptoms seems to be associated only with Psychological Inflexibility. Conclusions: The potential uses of the CAMM and AFQ-Y in research and clinical practice are drawn. CAMM and AFQ-Y are short and simple measures that make them accessible in a school-based primary prevention setting.