Acceptance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y)

Appendix A

Acceptance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y)

We want to know more about what you think, how you feel, and what you do. Read each sentence. Then, circle a number between 0-4 that tells how true each sentence is for you.

/ Not at all True /

A little True

/ Pretty True / True / Very True
1.  My life won’t be good until I feel happy. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
2.  My thoughts and feelings mess up my life. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
3.  If I feel sad or afraid, then something must be wrong with me. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
4.  The bad things I think about myself must be true. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
5.  I don’t try out new things if I’m afraid of messing up. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
6.  I must get rid of my worries and fears so I can have a good life. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
7.  I do all I can to make sure I don’t look dumb in front of other people. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
8.  I try hard to erase hurtful memories from my mind. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
9.  I can’t stand to feel pain or hurt in my body. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
10.  If my heart beats fast, there must be something wrong with me. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
11.  I push away thoughts and feelings that I don’t like. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
12.  I stop doing things that are important to me whenever I feel bad. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
13.  I do worse in school when I have thoughts that make me feel sad. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
14.  I say things to make me sound cool. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
15.  I wish I could wave a magic wand to make all my sadness go away. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
16.  I am afraid of my feelings. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
17.  I can’t be a good friend when I feel upset. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

AFQ-Y8

We want to know more about what you think, how you feel, and what you do. Read each sentence. Then, circle a number between 0-4 that tells how true each sentence is for you.

/ Not at all True /

A little True

/ Pretty True / True / Very True
1.  My life won’t be good until I feel happy. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
2.  My thoughts and feelings mess up my life. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
3.  The bad things I think about myself must be true. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
4.  If my heart beats fast, there must be something wrong with me. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
5.  I stop doing things that are important to me whenever I feel bad. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
6.  I do worse in school when I have thoughts that make me feel sad. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
7.  I am afraid of my feelings. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
8.  I can’t be a good friend when I feel upset. / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Appendix B

Scoring instructions

A. If 17-item AFQ-Y or AFQ-Y8 have no missing items, compute the total score by summing the items. Items are scored on a 0 to 4 scale. For the 17-item AFQ-Y, possible raw scores range from 0 to 68. For the AFQ-Y8, possible raw scores range from 0 to 32.

B. If AFQ-Y or AFQ-Y8 are at least 85% complete (up to 3 missing on AFQ-Y or 1 missing on the AFQ-Y8), compute the total score with 2 steps:

(1) Calculate the average item score from all nonmissing items: add ratings (0 to 4) of the completed items and divide by the total number of items completed.

(2) Multiply the average item score obtained in step 1 by the total number of items. For the 17-item AFQ-Y, multiply the average item score by 17. For the AFQ-Y8, multiple the average item score by 8.

Excel can do these calculations automatically: = 17 * AVERAGE (A1:A17) where the item scores are typed into the first column cells A1 – A17. For the AFQ-Y8 it would be = 8 * AVERAGE (A1:A8). The Excel formula gives the right total whether or not there are missing items.

C. Researchers who require equal-interval scores may prefer Rasch measure score lookups from Appendix C.

Distribution of scores and Illustration of Rasch Measure Scores

Distribution of scores for the cross-validation sample (N = 329) in Greco, Lambert, & Baer (2008). AFQ-Y total score (upper X-axis) and average item score (lower X-axis). / AFQ-Y total score (upper X-axis) and average item score (lower X-axis) and Rasch measure score (Y-Axis). Rasch measure scores calibrate extreme scores with a better approximation of an equal-interval scale

Appendix C

Lookup Table

AFQ-Y Items / AFQ-Y8 Items
Sum
Score / Measure
Score / S.E. / %-tile / Sum
Score / Measure
Score / S.E. / %-tile
0 / 2.5 / 18.3 / 2 / 0 / 8.8 / 18.3 / 4
1 / 14.5 / 10.0 / 4 / 1 / 21.0 / 10.1 / 11
2 / 21.5 / 7.1 / 5 / 2 / 28.1 / 7.2 / 17
3 / 25.6 / 5.8 / 7 / 3 / 32.3 / 5.9 / 24
4 / 28.5 / 5.0 / 9 / 4 / 35.3 / 5.1 / 31
5 / 30.7 / 4.5 / 11 / 5 / 37.6 / 4.6 / 38
6 / 32.5 / 4.1 / 14 / 6 / 39.5 / 4.2 / 43
7 / 34.1 / 3.8 / 16 / 7 / 41.2 / 3.9 / 48
8 / 35.4 / 3.5 / 19 / 8 / 42.6 / 3.7 / 53
9 / 36.5 / 3.3 / 21 / 9 / 43.8 / 3.5 / 57
10 / 37.6 / 3.1 / 23 / 10 / 45.0 / 3.3 / 62
11 / 38.5 / 3.0 / 25 / 11 / 46.0 / 3.2 / 68
12 / 39.4 / 2.9 / 28 / 12 / 47.0 / 3.1 / 72
13 / 40.2 / 2.8 / 32 / 13 / 48.0 / 3.0 / 76
14 / 40.9 / 2.7 / 35 / 14 / 48.9 / 3.0 / 79
15 / 41.6 / 2.6 / 36 / 15 / 49.8 / 3.0 / 82
16 / 42.2 / 2.5 / 38 / 16 / 50.6 / 2.9 / 86
17 / 42.8 / 2.4 / 41 / 17 / 51.5 / 2.9 / 88
18 / 43.4 / 2.4 / 44 / 18 / 52.3 / 2.9 / 90
19 / 43.9 / 2.3 / 46 / 19 / 53.2 / 3.0 / 92
20 / 44.5 / 2.3 / 49 / 20 / 54.1 / 3.0 / 94
21 / 45.0 / 2.2 / 52 / 21 / 55.0 / 3.0 / 96
22 / 45.5 / 2.2 / 56 / 22 / 55.9 / 3.1 / 97
23 / 46.0 / 2.2 / 58 / 23 / 56.9 / 3.2 / 98
24 / 46.4 / 2.1 / 60 / 24 / 58.0 / 3.4 / 98
25 / 46.9 / 2.1 / 62 / 25 / 59.2 / 3.5 / 98
26 / 47.3 / 2.1 / 64 / 26 / 60.5 / 3.8 / 99
27 / 47.7 / 2.1 / 66 / 27 / 62.1 / 4.1 / 99
28 / 48.2 / 2.1 / 68 / 28 / 64.0 / 4.6 / 99
29 / 48.6 / 2.0 / 69 / 29 / 66.4 / 5.3 / 99
30 / 49.0 / 2.0 / 71 / 30 / 69.9 / 6.6 / 99
31 / 49.4 / 2.0 / 72 / 31 / 76.1 / 9.6 / 99
32 / 49.8 / 2.0 / 73 / 32 / 87.5 / 18.0 / 99
33 / 50.2 / 2.0 / 75
34 / 50.6 / 2.0 / 76

AFQ-Y17 Lookup table continued:

Sum
Score / Measure
Score / S.E.
Measure / %-tile
35 / 51.0 / 2.0 / 79
36 / 51.4 / 2.0 / 82
37 / 51.8 / 2.0 / 84
38 / 52.2 / 2.0 / 85
39 / 52.6 / 2.0 / 87
40 / 53.0 / 2.0 / 88
41 / 53.4 / 2.0 / 90
42 / 53.8 / 2.0 / 91
43 / 54.2 / 2.0 / 93
44 / 54.6 / 2.1 / 94
45 / 55.0 / 2.1 / 95
46 / 55.5 / 2.1 / 97
47 / 55.9 / 2.1 / 97
48 / 56.3 / 2.1 / 98
49 / 56.8 / 2.2 / 98
50 / 57.3 / 2.2 / 98
51 / 57.8 / 2.3 / 98
52 / 58.3 / 2.3 / 98
53 / 58.9 / 2.4 / 98
54 / 59.4 / 2.4 / 99
55 / 60.0 / 2.5 / 99
56 / 60.7 / 2.6 / 99
57 / 61.4 / 2.7 / 99
58 / 62.1 / 2.8 / 99
59 / 63.0 / 3.0 / 99
60 / 63.9 / 3.2 / 99
61 / 65.0 / 3.4 / 99
62 / 66.2 / 3.7 / 99
63 / 67.7 / 4.0 / 99
64 / 69.5 / 4.6 / 99
65 / 71.9 / 5.3 / 99
66 / 75.4 / 6.7 / 99
67 / 81.8 / 9.7 / 100
68 / 93.3 / 18.1 / 100

Original Source: Greco, L. A., Lambert, W., & Baer, R. A. (in press). Psychological inflexibility in childhood and adolescence: Development and evaluation of the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth. Psychological Assessment.