Spanish validation of the Parental Acceptance Questionnaire (6-PAQ)

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Psychological flexibility is an ability with positive effects in health, also in the field parenting. The aim of this study is to validate the Parental Acceptance Questionnaire (6-PAQ) in Spanish sample. METHOD: A total of 426 parents (96.3% female), with an average age of 38.25 years (SD = 5.76) and with at least one child between 3 and 16 years old participated. Participants completed the 6PAQ and other instruments assessing experiential avoidance, thought suppression, satisfaction with life and symptoms of anxiety and depression. RESULTS: In comparison with the original model, the three-factor structural solution with 16 items obtained a better adjustment (CFI = .996; GFI = .998; TLI = .995; RMSE = .016) that refer to response styles related to psychological flexibility (open, aware and active). The 6-PAQ adaptation has shown good internal consistency, with a Cronbach alpha of .81 and a McDonald's omega of .86 for the scale, and evidence of convergent validity with significant correlations with measure of avoidance, thought suppression, satisfaction with life and anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish version of the 6-PAQ with the three-factor structure presents psychometric property to be considered a reliable measure and a valid instrument for the evaluation of parental psychological flexibility.