title: Assessing adolescent mindfulness: validation of an adapted Mindful Attention Awareness Scale in adolescent normative and psychiatric populations.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 806 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA 23284-2018, USA. kwbrown@vcu.edu
authors.forename: Kirk Warren
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Angela Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: Tamara M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Loverich
authors.forename: Gina M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Biegel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057194:Intention to Treat Analysis; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D026441:Mind-Body Therapies / Q000523:psychology*; D019964:Mood Disorders; D010045:Outpatients; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult