Spanish and cross-cultural validation of the mind excessively wandering scale

Alfonso Morillas-Romero; Alejandro De la Torre-Luque; Florence D Mowlem; Philip Asherson

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1181294

Spanish and cross-cultural validation of the mind excessively wandering scale

Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 11:14:1181294. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1181294. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Alfonso Morillas-Romero^{1

2}, Alejandro De la Torre-Luque³, Florence D Mowlem⁴, Philip Asherson⁴

Affiliations

¹ Apploading S.L., Palma, Spain.
² Department of Psychology of the University of the Balearic Islands, Palma, Spain.
³ Department of Legal Medicine, Psychiatry and Pathology Department, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
⁴ King's College London, MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Introduction: Over the last decade, excessive spontaneous mind wandering (MW) has been consistently associated with emotional disorders. The main aims of the present study were (1) to re-examine the factor structure of the Mind Excessively Wandering Scale (MEWS); (2) to validate the Spanish version of the MEWS; and (3) to conduct a cross-cultural validation of the MEWS in Spanish and UK samples.

Methods: A forward/backward translation to Spanish was conducted. Data of 391 Spanish and 713 British non-clinical individuals were analysed.

Results: A revised 10-item version of the MEWS (MEWS-v2.0) demonstrated to be a valid instrument to assess MW. A 2-correlated factor structure properly captured the MEWS-v2.0 variance, accounting for two specific but interrelated dimensions (Uncontrolled thoughts and Mental Overactivity).

Discussion: The Spanish MEWS-v2.0 showed adequate internal consistency and construct validity, as well as appropriate convergent/divergent validity. Cross-cultural analyses showed that MEWS-v2.0 captured the same construct in both UK and Spanish samples. In conclusion, both Spanish and English MEWS-v2.0 demonstrated to be reliable measures to capture spontaneous MW phenomenon in non-clinical adult populations.

Keywords: MEWS; attention; daydreaming; mind wandering; task-unrelated thoughts.