Overview
The MAIA-Y is a 32-item measure of interoception (body awareness). The measure has eight subscales: Noticing, Not-Distracting, Not-Worrying, Attention Regulation, Emotional Awareness, Self-regulation, Body Listening, Trust and is based on the original MAIA (Mehling et al., 2012), with modifications made to simplify the language of each statement.Scoring & Interpretation
For each item, participants are prompted to respond by indicating on a 6‐point Likert scale how often each statement applies to them in general life, ranging from never (0), to always (5). Take the average of the items on each scale. Note: Reverse‐score items 5, 6, and 7 on Not‐Distracting, and items 8 and 9 on Not‐Worrying. The eight scales for MAIA‐y are meant to be scored as separate scales. Full scoring instructions included in Jones et al., (2020).Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency
The study used two age groups younger children (aged 7–10 years) and adolescents (aged 11–17 years). Reliability was mixed with estimates for internal consistency reliability for the Noticing, Not‐Distracting and Not‐Worrying scales not reaching acceptable levels in either group.
Test-Retest Reliability
Factor Structure
Confirmatory factor analyses indicated an acceptable model fit in the total sample and younger age group, but some model fit indices were less‐than‐ideal in the older age group.
Validity
Conducted in total sample, convergent validity was less‐than‐adequate (AVE >.50).
Measurement Invariance
Full scalar invariance was supported across age groups based on ΔSRMR and for gender full scalar invariance was supported across all indices.