Colonial Mentality and Psychological Flexibility Among Filipinx Americans

While the concept of colonial mentality (CM; David & Okazaki, 2006a) has been well examined in the literature, little is understood about addressing CM in a clinical setting. The aim of this study is to examine a relationship between CM and psychological flexibility (PF; Hayes et al., 2013), with the hope of establishing acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) as a clinically relevant theoretical orientation for addressing CM. Filipinx American participants (N = 856) completed online questionnaires regarding CM and PF. The study used a series of linear regressions to understand the predictive relationship between CM and PF. Results of the study suggest that there is a relationship between CM and PF, although the size of the effects was small. As expected, higher levels of CM were related to lower levels of PF. Higher levels of physical characteristics on the Colonial Mentality Scale (CMS; David & Okazaki, 2006b) predicted higher levels of cognitive fusion. Participants that endorsed higher levels of within-group discrimination also reported higher levels of experiential avoidance. Higher scores of cultural/ethnic inferiority predicted higher levels of self-as-content. A predictive relationship was established between CM and PF, suggesting that the concept of PF and ACT may be clinically relevant when working with the Filipinx population. What is the public significance of this article? This study examined the relationship between psychological flexibility (PF) and colonial mentality (CM) among Filipinx Americans. The findings of the study may be useful for clinicians to consider using acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) as a relevant treatment model for Filipinx Americans who endorse CM beliefs.