Assessing adolescent mindfulness: Validation of an Adapted Mindful Attention Awareness Scale in adolescent normative and psychiatric populations.
Kirk Warren Brown, Angela Marie West, Tamara M. Loverich, Gina M. Biegel
Psychological Assessment 2011 DOI: 10.1037/a0021338 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Randomized controlled trial Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 595 |
| Population | Healthy 14- to 18-year-olds and psychiatric outpatient adolescents aged 14-18 |
| Intervention | Mindfulness-based stress reduction |
| Duration | 3-month follow-up |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Clinical psychology Normative Psychological intervention Mental health Intervention counseling Test validity Psychometrics |
| Citations | 460 |
| Post-publication review | 1 comment on PubPeer (opens in new tab) · last active September 2016 |
| Key findings | The MAAS-A shows reliability and validity in normative and mixed psychiatric adolescent populations, and scores increase following mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention. |
Abstract
Interest in mindfulness-based interventions for children and adolescents is burgeoning, bringing with it the need for validated instruments to assess mindfulness in youths. The present studies were designed to validate among adolescents a measure of mindfulness previously validated for adults (e.g., Brown & Ryan, 2003), which we herein call the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale-Adolescent (MAAS-A). In 2 large samples of healthy 14- to 18-year-olds (N = 595), Study 1 supported a single-factor MAAS-A structure, along with acceptably high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and both concurrent and incremental validity. In Study 2, with a sample of 102 psychiatric outpatient adolescents age 14-18 years, participants randomized to a mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention showed significant increases in MAAS-A scores from baseline to 3-month follow-up, relative to nonsignificant score changes among treatment-as-usual participants. Increases in MAAS-A scores among mindfulness-based stress reduction participants were significantly related to beneficial changes in numerous mental health indicators. The findings support the reliability and validity of the MAAS-A in normative and mixed psychiatric adolescent populations and suggest that the MAAS-A has utility in mindfulness intervention research.