Assessment
January 27, 2006
Ruth A. Baer, Gregory T. Smith, Jaclyn Hopkins et al.
7,526 citations
Mindfulness is composed of at least five distinct facets, as shown by analyses of five new questionnaires given to two large groups of undergraduates. Four of these facets appear to be part of an overall mindfulness construct, and their structure may differ depending on meditation experience. The facets relate differently to other psychological constructs and predict psychological symptoms beyond what other measures do, supporting a multifaceted view of mindfulness.
Clinical Psychology Science and Practice
January 1, 2003
Ruth A. Baer
4,203 citations
Mindfulness-based interventions, which train individuals to focus attention on present-moment experiences through meditation, show promise for treating several psychological disorders. A review of conceptual approaches and empirical studies, incorporating meta-analytic techniques, finds that while the existing research contains many methodological flaws, the evidence suggests these interventions may be beneficial. More rigorous investigations are needed to confirm their effectiveness.
Assessment
February 29, 2008
Ruth A. Baer, Gregory T. Smith, Emily L. B. Lykins et al.
2,933 citations
Mindfulness as measured by self-report includes five component skills: observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonjudging of inner experience, and nonreactivity to inner experience, assessed with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). The authors examined the construct validity of the FFMQ in experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups. Most mindfulness facets were significantly related to meditation experience and to psychological symptoms and well-being. The relationship between the observing facet and psychological adjustment varied with meditation experience. Several facets independently predicted well-being and mediated the relationship between meditation experience and well-being, supporting the FFMQ's construct validity in these samples.
Assessment
September 1, 2004
Ruth A. Baer, Gregory T. Smith, Kristin B. Allen
2,283 citations
A new self-report questionnaire measuring four mindfulness skills—observing, describing, acting with awareness, and accepting without judgment—shows good reliability and a clear factor structure. These skills relate differently to personality and mental health: they are linked to neuroticism, psychological symptoms, emotional intelligence, alexithymia, experiential avoidance, dissociation, and absorption. The findings suggest mindfulness is not a single trait but a set of distinct abilities with unique connections to well-being.
Journal of Management
November 19, 2015
Darren Good, Christopher Lyddy, Theresa M. Glomb et al.
1,007 citations
A growing body of evidence suggests mindfulness is closely tied to many aspects of workplace functioning, but this knowledge has not been systematically integrated. This review organizes the expanding mindfulness scholarship into a framework to guide management research. The framework shows how mindfulness affects attention, which then influences cognition, emotion, behavior, and physiology. These domains ultimately impact key workplace outcomes such as performance, relationships, and well-being. The evidence on mindfulness at work raises important questions and challenges key assumptions in management science, pointing toward an agenda for future research.
Psychological Assessment
April 11, 2011
Laurie A. Greco, Ruth A. Baer, Gregory T. Smith
696 citations
Four studies with 1,413 participants developed and validated the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). The final 10-item measure shows adequate internal consistency and is developmentally appropriate for school-aged children and adolescents. CAMM scores positively correlate with quality of life, academic competence, and social skills, and negatively correlate with somatic complaints, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behavior problems. These correlations remain generally significant even after controlling for thought suppression and psychological inflexibility. The CAMM may be a useful tool for assessing mindfulness skills in this age group.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
March 23, 2009
James Carmody, Ruth A. Baer
563 citations
The standard Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program requires 26 hours of class time, but some groups cannot commit to that. This review examined published studies of MBSR, some of which used fewer class hours, and found no significant correlation between the number of in-class hours and the effect sizes for psychological outcomes in either clinical or nonclinical samples. The finding suggests that abbreviated MBSR programs may be worthwhile for populations where reducing psychological distress is the goal and longer time commitments are a barrier. However, the standard format has the most empirical support, and class time may matter for other outcomes. The authors call for systematic empirical studies on this question.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
March 6, 2009
James Carmody, Ruth A. Baer, Emily L. B. Lykins et al.
528 citations
A theory proposes that mindfulness training works by changing how people relate to their experiences, a process called reperceiving, which then improves self-regulation, values clarity, mental flexibility, and exposure to experiences, leading to better health. Testing this with participants in a mindfulness-based stress-reduction program did not support that changes in reperceiving alone explained how mindfulness affected those four factors. However, when mindfulness and reperceiving scores were combined, there was partial support that those four factors helped reduce psychological distress. The text discusses difficulties in measuring these concepts.
The Journal of Positive Psychology
April 11, 2012
Ruth A. Baer, Emily L. B. Lykins, Jessica R. Peters
391 citations
Both mindfulness and self-compassion appear to contribute independently to psychological wellbeing, and together they fully explain the link between meditation experience and wellbeing. In a cross-sectional comparison of 77 experienced meditators and 75 matched nonmeditators, most mindfulness and self-compassion scores correlated significantly with meditation experience and wellbeing. The relationship between meditation experience and wellbeing was entirely accounted for by combined mindfulness and self-compassion scores, suggesting that these skills may be key mechanisms through which mindfulness training improves wellbeing. Longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Contemporary Buddhism
May 1, 2011
Ruth A. Baer
271 citations
Mindfulness-based treatments produce clinically meaningful improvements for depression, anxiety, pain, and stress, but the mechanisms driving these benefits remain unclear. Central questions include whether mindfulness training increases the general tendency to respond mindfully to daily life and whether such changes explain mental health improvements. Answering these questions requires reliable assessment tools. Several mindfulness questionnaires are now available, and early evidence indicates they are useful despite shortcomings needing further work. This paper summarizes the rationale for these questionnaires, their construction methods, and research findings on their utility, while discussing challenges in maintaining consistency with Buddhist conceptions of mindfulness when applying psychological research methods.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
January 1, 2009
Ruth A. Baer
185 citations
Practicing mindfulness cultivates the ability to observe and describe present-moment experiences nonjudgmentally and nonreactively, and to participate with awareness in ongoing activity. Increased mindfulness appears to mediate improvement in psychological functioning, likely by fostering adaptive self-focused attention that reduces rumination and emotional avoidance and improves behavioral self-regulation. Recent studies suggest these mechanisms underlie the beneficial outcomes of mindfulness training for numerous problems and disorders.
Assessment
May 14, 2012
Tory A. Eisenlohr‐Moul, Erin C. Walsh, Richard Charnigo et al.
139 citations
The relationship between present-moment observation and substance use depends on a person's tendency to be nonreactive. Among 296 undergraduates, higher observation scores were linked to less substance use when nonreactivity was high, but to more substance use when nonreactivity was low. This suggests that merely noticing experiences without also being nonreactive may increase substance use, while combining observation with nonreactivity may be protective.
Assessment
December 30, 2010
Ruth A. Baer, Douglas B. Samuel, Emily L. B. Lykins
95 citations
The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire shows minimal differential item functioning (DIF) when comparing demographically matched meditators and nonmeditators. A prior study had reported high DIF for 18 of 39 items in unmatched samples, with meditators more likely to endorse positively worded items and nonmeditators more likely to deny negatively worded reverse-scored items. This replication used matched samples of 115 meditators and 115 nonmeditators and found little or no evidence for DIF or differential relationships between positively and negatively worded items. The findings suggest that scoring direction does not bias comparisons of demographically similar meditators and nonmeditators on this questionnaire.
European Journal of Personality
June 15, 2017
Baljinder K Sahdra, Joseph Ciarrochi, Philip D. Parker et al.
91 citations
A nationally representative sample of 7,884 American adults completed mindfulness questionnaires. Using statistical techniques that separate overall level from pattern of scores, researchers identified two mindfulness profiles: a judgmentally observing group and a non-judgmentally aware group. Unlike prior studies, no profiles showed uniformly high or low mindfulness across all aspects. Adding nonattachment did not change the profile shapes. The judgmentally observing profile was linked to the highest levels of mental ill-health but also the highest life satisfaction and effectiveness. The findings suggest that how mindfulness facets combine matters for psychological outcomes and may inform clinical interventions.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
June 9, 2016
Erin C. Walsh, Tory A. Eisenlohr‐Moul, Ruth A. Baer
72 citations
A 4-week mindfulness-based intervention reduced salivary inflammatory markers IL-6 and TNF-α in college women with elevated depressive symptoms, compared with a contact-control group. Both groups showed similar reductions in self-reported depression. Reductions in IL-6 were sustained at a 3-month follow-up in the mindfulness group. Higher baseline depressive symptoms predicted greater reductions in inflammation among those who received mindfulness training. The findings suggest that mindfulness training may lower inflammatory immune markers commonly linked to depression, possibly protecting against future depressive episodes, though the reductions in inflammation were not explained by changes in depressive symptoms.
Assessment
April 1, 2022
Joel N Fishbein, Ruth A. Baer, Joshua Correll et al.
13 citations
A new questionnaire measures self-transcendence—distancing from mental content, distinguishing an observer of experience, and experiencing connectedness with others—as promoted in contextual cognitive behavioral therapies. Exploratory factor analysis and bifactor models supported three of four proposed facets. These facets correlated with decentering, defusion, experiential avoidance, and mindfulness, and predicted psychological well-being beyond other measures. The findings support a CCBT-informed model of self-transcendence and provide a tool for future research and intervention targets.
Mindfulness
January 1, 2025
Ryad Chems-Maarif, Kate Cavanagh, Ruth A. Baer et al.
A narrative review of traditional Buddhist and contemporary psychological definitions of mindfulness finds that Buddhist definitions emphasize memory, present-centered awareness, and ethicality, while psychological definitions converge on present-centered awareness, bare attention, and attitudes of acceptance and non-judgment. The authors conclude that conceptual commonality across both traditions is lacking, making a single comprehensive definition difficult. For psychological science, they propose a refined definition: “present-centered awareness of and bare attention to body sensations, affective valence, cognitive and emotional phenomena, and the external environment with an allowing and equanimous attitude.” This definition incorporates four scopes of mindfulness and highlights allowing and equanimity as key qualities.
Prevention Science
August 1, 2022
Kate Tudor, Shannon Maloney, Anam Raja et al.
Universal school-based mindfulness training can benefit young people, but it is unclear who benefits most, how it works, and how implementation affects outcomes. A scoping review of 31 studies found mixed evidence on moderators such as age or gender. Five studies showed that increased mindfulness skills and reduced cognitive reactivity and self-criticism after training predicted better outcomes later. Twenty-five studies examined implementation factors, but methodological shortcomings limit conclusions. The authors propose a conceptual model to guide future research and theory development.
Journal of Clinical Psychology
July 1, 2012
Ruth A. Baer, James Carmody, Matthew Hunsinger
In an 8-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course for 87 adults with stress from chronic illness, pain, or other life circumstances, mindfulness skills increased significantly by the second week, while perceived stress did not improve significantly until the fourth week. The degree of improvement in mindfulness during the first three weeks predicted later reductions in stress. These results suggest that changes in mindfulness precede and may help explain the stress-reducing effects of MBSR training.