(PS10-35) Measurement Invariance of the Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (PPFI) Across Five Racial and Ethnic Groups

Introduction: The Personalized Psychological Flexibility Index (PPFI) is a new measure of psychological flexibility that utilizes a combined nomothetic (i.e., factors of avoidance, acceptance, and harnessing) and idiographic approach that asks respondents to identify a personally important goal when responding to 15 items. The PPFI has improved upon other measures of psychological flexibility (e.g., the AAQ-II) with stronger psychometric properties (e.g., differentiating from distress) and definition/measure alignment. However, the factor structure of the PPFI has not been investigated utilizing an intentionally diverse sample and little is known about whether it reliably measures psychological flexibility across racial and ethnic groups. This study tested measurement invariance of the PPFI across five racial and ethnic groups in a large diverse student and community sample.

Method: This study utilized data from a larger study of psychological flexibility, self as context, and emotional eating. The sample included 1,351 student and community participants who completed a REDcap survey containing the PPFI and a demographics questionnaire. The factor structure of the PPFI was examined using CFAs of the overall sample and each of the five racial and ethnic groups included. Increasingly stringent levels of invariance (i.e., configural, metric, scalar, and residual) were tested across broad racial and ethnic groups (i.e., 534 White, 332 Black, 203 Multiracial, 149 Asian, and 92 Hispanic/Latinx).

Results: Results found that the three-factor structure of the PPFI was confirmed in the overall model and in three of the five racial and ethnic groups (i.e., White, Black, and Asian). The CFA models for the Hispanic/Latinx and Multiracial groups did not demonstrate acceptable fit. The PPFI achieved full invariance at the scalar level and partial invariance at the residual level across groups.

Discussion: There is support for utilizing the PPFI across racial and ethnic groups in nonclinical contexts. The results raised some questions about the use of the PPFI with some racial and ethnic groups and specific measure items. Overall, the findings support the PPFI as a solid measure and an improvement in the measurement of psychological flexibility, however, it will benefit from additional investigation.