Examining the Factor Structure and Validity of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness

The goal of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA), a popular self-report questionnaire claimed to assess the most important subjective aspects of interoception. We collected data in two samples (N = 644 and N = 1,516) and focused on the factor structure and validity of MAIA, as well as its associations with personality traits. Confirmatory Factor Analysis suggested that six of the eight subscales measure a common general factor of self-reportedinteroception; two MAIA subscales,Not-WorryingandNot-Distractingwere only weakly related to this factor. Whereas the general factor correlated strongly with a measure of perceived attentiveness to normal nonemotive body processes, and moderately with Extraversion, Openness and Conscientiousness, theNot-Worryingfactor showed moderate to strong negative correlations with Emotionality, pain catastrophization, and anxiety-related aspects of body focus.Not-Distractingwas only weakly associated with the validating scales. Overall, these findings do not support the claimed eight-factor structure of the MAIA but indicate the existence of an overarching general factor. Additionally, this study provides evidence that interoceptive awareness, as measured by the MAIA, is related to, but distinct from personality.

Automated summary

This study confirmed the multi-factor structure of the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA) and identified a general factor, while also finding that interoceptive awareness is related to but distinct from personality.