Mindfulness and psychological flexibility in sport practice: Validation of the italian version of the SMS-PA and the sports version of the AAQ-II
Daniele Bisagni, Michele Bisagni, Marianna Vaccaro
Mindfulness and psychological flexibility are variables that are acquiring greater popularity. Physical
activity can promote health, but in the Italian context, there aren’t any tools which assess the abovementioned
variables in the field of sports practice. This study focused on the validation of the Italian
version of the State Mindfulness Scale for Physical Activity (Cox, Ullrich-French, & French, 2016), to
evaluate Mindfulness during sports activity, and on the adaptation to the sports practice context of
the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire – II, in its 7-item Italian version (Pennato, Berrocal, Bernini
& Rivas, 2013). Participants were 145 athletes, between 6 and 19 years old, involved in basketball,
football and volleyball activities. Factorial analyses led to the validation of a 10-item scale for the
evaluation of mindfulness during sports activities, in its mental and bodily subcomponents, and of a
7-item scale for the psychological flexibility construct during physical activity.
Keywords
Mindfulness, Psychological Flexibility, Sports Psychology, State Mindfulness
Scale for Physical Activity, SMS-PA, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, AAQ-II.
