ORIGINAL PAPER Exploring the Psychometric Properties of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Michael S. Christopher & Ninfa J. Neuser & Paul G. Michael & Ashwini Baitmangalkar Published online: 6 January 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract A growing literature supporting the efficacy and effectiveness of mindfulness and its application has devel- oped over the past decade. Reliable and valid measurement of mindfulness is an essential component of this emerging area. Therefore, in this study, a confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the factor structure of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al. (Assessment 13:27–45, 2006)) among a mixed sample of meditators and non-meditators. However, unlike the original FFMQ val- idation study in which item parceling was used, in this study individual items were used as indicators, providing an item-level test of the FFMQ model fit. Overall, the hierarchical FFMQ model using item-level indicators provided a good fit to the data. The reliability and validity of each of the five facets of the FFMQ (Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Nonreactivity, Nonjudging) was also acceptable. Keywords Mindfulness . Assessment . Confirmatory factor analysis Introduction The practice of mindfulness meditation has its roots in Eastern contemplative traditions, and it is a core element of Buddhism (Hanh 1998). In recent years Western psychol- ogy has developed a burgeoning interest in mindfulness, where it has been operationalized as a focus of one’ s attention in a nonjudgmental or accepting way on the experience occurring in the present moment (Kabat-Zinn 1994) and as an awareness of present experience with acceptance (Germer et al. 2005). In Western psychology, attention has primarily focused on the integration of mindfulness into preventative treatments and interven- tions (e.g., mindfulness-based stress reduction [MBSR]; Kabat-Zinn 1990) aimed at teaching patients a more mindful approach to reducing distress, preventing relapse, and enhancing quality of life. Relatedly, a number of self-report scales have been de- veloped to assess the impact of engaging in mindfulness practices (e.g., Lau et al. 2006) and the general tendency to be mindful in daily life (e.g., Baer et al. 2004). Although state-like scales are essential for evaluating mindfulness- based interventions, given that mindfulness is an intrinsic human characteristic (Kabat-Zinn 1990, 2003) with substan- tive within and between person variation (Baer et al. 2004; Brown and Ryan 2003; Walach et al. 2006), measures that can assess the general propensity to be mindful are also useful in this area. Moreover, in a number of studies mind- fulness has been shown to be correlated with a variety of constructs, including psychopathology and well-being (see Brown et al. 2007 for a review). The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer et al. 2006) is a widely used scale to assess the tendency to be mindful in daily life. The FFMQ is a 39-item self-report measure that was developed by integrating items from the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown and Ryan 2003), Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI; Buchheld et al. 2001), Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS; Baer et al. 2004), Cognitive and Affective Mindful- ness Scale (CAMS; Feldman et al., unpublished; Hayes and Feldman 2004 ), and the Southampton Mindfulness M. S. Christopher (*) : N. J. Neuser : P. G. Michael : A. Baitmangalkar School of Professional Psychology, Pacific University, 190 SE 8th Avenue, Hillsboro, OR 97123, USA e-mail: mchristopher@pacificu.edu Mindfulness (2012) 3:124–131 DOI 10.1007/s12671-011-0086-x