Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–II for Turkish adolescents: Validation testing and the mediating role of experiential avoidance between emotional suppression and depression

Adolescence is a critical developmental period marked by rapid biological, psychological, and social changes, during which vulnerability to mental health problems increases. Experiential avoidance associated with mental health issues is a mechanism that has been widely studied in adults but has not been sufficiently researched in adolescents, particularly in collectivist cultural contexts such as Türkiye. Therefore, the primary aim of the present study was to validate the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire–II (AAQ-II) for Turkish adolescents and to examine the mediating role of experiential avoidance in the relationship between emotional suppression and depression. Data were obtained from 450 adolescents for exploratory factor analysis, 306 for confirmatory factor analysis, and 347 for mediation analysis. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the original one-dimensional, seven-item structure of the AAQ-II was preserved in the adolescent sample (KMO = 0.887; χ2 = 1920.454; df = 21, p < .001). Confirmatory factor analysis and the obtained model fit indices showed that the structure of the scale was confirmed (χ2 = 35.373, df = 12, χ2/df =2.94; p < .001, CFI = 0.98, GFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.080). These findings demonstrate that the AAQ-II is a psychometrically valid assessment tool for use with adolescents. Mediation analysis revealed that experiential avoidance significantly mediated the relationship between emotional suppression and depression (B = 0.39, 95% CI [0.30, 0.49]). The results suggest that adolescents who engage in emotional suppression tend to exhibit higher levels of experiential avoidance, which in turn contributes to increased depressive symptoms. This highlights the importance of interventions targeting experiential avoidance to reduce depression in adolescents.