A model of mindful parenting: implications for parent-child relationships and prevention research.
This paper introduces a model of "mindful parenting" as a framework whereby parents intentionally bring moment-to-moment awareness to the parent-child relationship. This is done by developing the qualities of listening with full attention when interacting with their children, cultivating emotional awareness and self-regulation in parenting, and bringing compassion and nonjudgmental acceptance to their parenting interactions. First, we briefly outline the theoretical and empirical literature on mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions. Next, we present an operational definition of mindful parenting as an extension of mindfulness to the social context of parent-child relationships. We discuss the implications of mindful parenting for the quality of parent-child relationships, particularly across the transition to adolescence, and we review the literature on the application of mindfulness in parenting interventions. We close with a synopsis of our own efforts to integrate mindfulness-based intervention techniques and mindful parenting into a well-established, evidence-based family prevention program and our recommendations for future research on mindful parenting interventions.
Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-1726, USA. duncanLa@ocim.ucsf.edu
Larissa G
LG
Duncan
J Douglas
JD
Coatsworth
Mark T
MT
Greenberg
D000293:Adolescent; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D004493:Education / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007389:Internal-External Control; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*