Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM).
Laurie A. Greco, Ruth A. Baer, Gregory T. Smith
Psychological Assessment April 11, 2011 DOI: 10.1037/a0022819 (opens in new tab) via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractFour 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.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Cross-sectional validation study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1,413 |
| Population | School-aged children and adolescents |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Developmental psychology Competence human resources Clinical psychology Bivariate analysis |
| Citations | 696 |
| Key finding | The CAMM is a developmentally appropriate measure with adequate internal consistency, and its scores correlate in expected directions with quality of life, academic competence, social skills, and psychological symptoms. |
Abstract
This article presents 4 studies (N = 1,413) describing the development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). In Study 1 (n = 428), the authors determined procedures for item development and examined comprehensibility of the initial 25 items. In Study 2 (n = 334), they reduced the initial item pool from 25 to 10 items through exploratory factor analysis. Study 3 (n = 332) evaluated the final 10-item measure in a cross-validation sample, and Study 4 (n = 319) determined validity coefficients for the CAMM using bivariate and partial correlations with relevant variables. Results suggest that the CAMM is a developmentally appropriate measure with adequate internal consistency. As expected, CAMM scores were positively correlated with quality of life, academic competence, and social skills and negatively correlated with somatic complaints, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behavior problems. Correlations were reduced but generally still significant after controlling for the effects of 2 overlapping processes (thought suppression and psychological inflexibility). Overall, results suggest that the CAMM may be a useful measure of mindfulness skills for school-aged children and adolescents.