Abstract
Objectives
The purpose of this study was to investigate how mindfulness-based practice influenced self-regulation and self-compassion during adolescence. Of particular interest was the reciprocal interplay between the subcomponents of these two constructs.
Methods
The participants included 538 high school students (52.2% male), mean age 16.59 (SD = .74) recruited from three high schools in Philadelphia, PA. Students participated in a 12-week school-based mindfulness intervention and completed the Self-compassion Scale-Short Form and the Adolescent Self-regulation Inventory at pretest (T1) and posttest (T2).
Results
A key finding was that the models with directional paths from self-regulation to self-compassion best fit the data. Specifically, long-term self-regulation at T1 was positively associated with mindfulness and self-kindness at T2 while short-term self-regulation at T1 was negatively associated with self-judgment, over-identification, and isolation at T2.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that self-regulation precedes and enables the actualization of self-compassion within the context of mindfulness practice. The implications for understanding the specific mechanisms underlying mindfulness-based practice and its benefits for adolescents’ psychological well-being are discussed.
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Data Availability
The authors were not allowed to share or upload the dataset following the ethics protocol and informed consent procedure of this study that ensured the participants that all data we collected were confidential and would not be shared. We will be glad to answer any questions about the data collected in this study and to share unpublished information on this dataset.
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YZ: designed and executed the study, conducted data analyses, and drafted the manuscript. RR: collaborated with the design and writing of the study. QW: collaborated with the design and statistical consultation. DB: collaborated with result interpretation and editing of the final manuscript. QL: collaborated with the literature search and reference checks. All authors contributed to the revisions and approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
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Zhang, Y., Razza, R., Wang, Q. et al. Mechanisms of Change Underlying Mindfulness-Based Practice Among Adolescents. Mindfulness 13, 1445–1457 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01881-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01881-z