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Profiles of Mindfulness across Adulthood

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Abstract

Objectives

Person-centered analytic approaches (e.g., latent profile analysis, cluster analysis) have been offered as a potential solution to measurement issues associated with the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Yet, extant literature utilizing person-centered approaches reveals a lack of consistency in the identified mindfulness profiles, especially in non-college samples. The present study tested the generalizability of FFMQ profiles in an adult life span, community sample using latent profile analysis and cluster analysis. Furthermore, the study explored whether mindfulness profiles related to age and well-being.

Methods

Age-diverse participants (N = 715) recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk completed the FFMQ and numerous measures of well-being.

Results

Cluster analysis revealed four mindfulness profiles: (1) high mindfulness, (2) low mindfulness, (3) judgmentally observing, and (4) nonjudgmentally aware. Latent profile analysis indicated four profiles, but only two profiles resembled profiles resulting from the cluster analysis, and two of the profiles comprised less than 9% of the sample combined. Using profiles identified by cluster analysis, older age was associated with increased likelihood of classification into a high mindfulness profile and decreased likelihood of classification into a low mindfulness profile. Furthermore, the high mindfulness profile showed the best well-being and the low mindfulness profile showed the worst.

Conclusions

Overall, these findings demonstrate that the type of analytic method and sample characteristics, such as age, may affect the makeup of resulting mindfulness profiles. Implications for the state of this literature are discussed.

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Funding

This research was made possible by support from the National Science Foundation (Award Number 1459021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, West Virginia University, PO Box 6040, Morgantown, WV, 26506-6040, USA

    Cameron G. Ford, Jenna M. Wilson, Nathan Altman, JoNell Strough & Natalie J. Shook

  2. Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Cameron G. Ford

  3. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Natalie J. Shook

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  1. Cameron G. Ford
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  2. Jenna M. Wilson
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Contributions

CGF: developed research questions, conducted data analysis, and wrote the manuscript. JMW: designed and executed the study, conducted some data analysis, and collaborated with writing and editing the manuscript. NA: designed and executed the study, and assisted in the early stages of the writing process. JS: collaborated with the design and execution of the study, and collaborated with writing and editing the manuscript. NJS: collaborated with the design and execution of the study, consulted on data analytic procedures, and collaborated with writing and editing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Cameron G. Ford.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of West Virginia University and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ford, C.G., Wilson, J.M., Altman, N. et al. Profiles of Mindfulness across Adulthood. Mindfulness 11, 1557–1569 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01372-z

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