Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Mind Excessively Wandering Scale in Iranian Adolescents: A Validation Study.

Abstract

The Mind Excessively Wandering Scale (MEWS) assesses excessive mind-wandering. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Persian 12-item MEWS (MEWS-12) among Iranian adolescents, focusing on factor structure, internal consistency, associations with external measures, known-groups validity, and gender measurement invariance. In this cross-sectional study, 506 adolescents aged 12-18 years completed the MEWS and measures of rumination, attentional control, mindfulness, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and positive and negative affect. All 15 original MEWS items were administered, with the developer-recommended 12-item version designated for primary analyses. The sample was randomly divided, with stratification by gender, into independent exploratory factor analysis (EFA; n = 254) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; n = 252) subsamples. Parallel analysis favored a two-factor EFA solution accounting for 54% of the variance, with a factor correlation of 0.73. In CFA, the correlated two-factor model showed better fit than the unidimensional model, χ2(53) = 122.89, CFI = 0.971, TLI = 0.964, RMSEA = 0.072, 90% CI [0.056, 0.089], and SRMR = 0.054, although the factors were highly correlated (r = 0.858). Internal consistency was good (α = 0.893; ω = 0.917). Higher MEWS-12 scores were associated with greater depressive and anxiety symptoms, rumination, and negative affect, and with lower mindfulness and positive affect; the association with self-reported attentional control was small and non-significant. Adolescents at or above the selected GAD-7 and PHQ-9 symptom thresholds had higher MEWS-12 scores than those below the respective thresholds. Gender invariance analyses provided preliminary support for comparable measurement properties across girls and boys. The findings provide preliminary evidence regarding the psychometric properties of the Persian MEWS-12 among Iranian adolescents. The two-factor representation should be interpreted cautiously given the substantial factor overlap. Further replication in independent samples and evaluation in longitudinal and clinically characterized studies are warranted.