Awareness as a key component of mindfulness reduces psychological stress in adolescents: Evidence from multi-method studies.
Behaviour Research and Therapy November 1, 2025 Yaoyao Zhang, Xin Liu, Huimin Wu et al.
Both awareness and acceptance are linked to lower psychological stress in adolescents, but awareness alone may be more beneficial than combining it with acceptance. A survey of 3,304 adolescents found that both traits were negatively associated with stress, with awareness showing a stronger relationship. A randomized trial with 304 adolescents assigned to an awareness group, an awareness-plus-acceptance group, or control groups found that the awareness group reduced stress more than the combined group (effect size d = -0.23) and the blank control (d = -0.56). A third observational study of 111 adolescents indicated that conflict monitoring—a component of attention control—partly explains how awareness reduces stress.