Differential Item Functioning on the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire Is Minimal in Demographically Matched Meditators and Nonmeditators
Assessment December 30, 2010 Ruth A. Baer, Douglas B. Samuel, Emily L. B. Lykins 95 citations
The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire shows minimal differential item functioning (DIF) when comparing demographically matched meditators and nonmeditators. A prior study had reported high DIF for 18 of 39 items in unmatched samples, with meditators more likely to endorse positively worded items and nonmeditators more likely to deny negatively worded reverse-scored items. This replication used matched samples of 115 meditators and 115 nonmeditators and found little or no evidence for DIF or differential relationships between positively and negatively worded items. The findings suggest that scoring direction does not bias comparisons of demographically similar meditators and nonmeditators on this questionnaire.