The Persian Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (P-PPFI): Psychometric properties in a general population sample of Iranians

Popular measures of psychological flexibility (PF), such as the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II) and Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (BEAQ) have been criticized for questionable psychometric properties. The critiques include poor divergent validity with negative emotionality and disregarding PF's theoretical definition of flexible contact with the present moment while acting in the service of chosen values. Recently, the Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (PPFI) has been proposed as an alternative self-report measure of PF that attempts to address these issues above. The current study sought to test the psychometric properties of the PPFI in a large sample of Iranians from the general population who completed a cross-sectional survey. Back translation and cognitive interviews were used to translate the PPFI into Persian. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the Persian version of the PPFI, like the English version, has a three-factor structure mapping onto the avoidance, acceptance, and harnessing subscales. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a three-factor solution, showed a good model fit, and good internal consistencies. Correlational analyses supported the construct validity of the Persian PPFI with relations to well-being, goal-directedness, and life orientations in expected directions. Furthermore, the Persian PPFI demonstrated excellent divergent validity from negative emotionality (r = -0.38). Test of incremental validity indicated the Persian PPFI explained more variance in 10 of 15 outcomes than the BEAQ or AAQ-II. The current findings provide psychometric evidence for use of the PPFI in Persian-speaking populations as well as further support for evaluating PF ideographically and in line with theoretical definitions.