Date of Award
12-1-2025
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Habib, Reza
Second Advisor
Drake, Chad
Abstract
The psychological flexibility model has long been effectively used within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) interventions. More recently, models such as the Unified Flexibility and Mindfulness (UFM) model have sought to conceptualize the psychological flexibility model within a broader framework that hypothesizes how the individual processes generally progress and influence each other over time to eventually enact change in well-being and psychopathology. The present study sought to provide support for these models by generating exploratory network models including temporal effects observed in a sample of participants (n = 69) receiving weekly intervention from an ACT protocol in a university mental health clinic setting. While general support for the interconnectivity among flexibility and inflexibility processes was found, the temporal effects modeling week-to-week change largely did not follow expected directions as based on the UFM model. Tentative findings suggest that acceptance and committed action may be highly influential on other flexibility processes, whereas inaction may be a highly influential inflexibility process. An unexpected, negative relationship between present moment awareness and defusion was observed and may suggest differential preferences or utility between these particular forms of mindfulness across individuals or presentations.
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