The Turkish Version of Mindful Attention Awareness Scale: Preliminary Findings

The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) is the most frequently utilized self-report measure of mindfulness. The present study sought to investigate the psychometric properties of MAAS among non-clinical Turkish participants as well as to explore the relationships between mindfulness and well-being, experiential avoidance, cognitive reappraisal, and impulsivity. One hundred participants from two samples were recruited for the study. After the translation of MAAS into Turkish, a test battery including MAAS Turkish form, a demographic information form, General Health Questionnaire, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, White Bear Suppression Inventory, and MMPI Impulsivity Subscale was administered to participants. After a 3-week interval, the second administration of MAAS was carried out in the same samples. Cronbach's alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency and Pearson correlation was utilized to assess test-retest reliability of the scale while factor analysis was employed to investigate the internal structure of the scale. The relations between mindfulness and convergent measures were examined using Pearson correlation. The study provided preliminary results indicating that the Turkish version of MAAS possesses good psychometric qualities. The single factor structure of the original scale was confirmed. Significant relationships in the expected directions were found between mindfulness and well-being, experiential avoidance, and impulsivity. The Turkish version of MAAS is an internally consistent and temporally reliable assessment tool for measuring mindfulness in Turkish population.