Funding: Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute; Grant No. 1UL1TR001855

Mindfulness-based programs for children and adolescents are in widespread use in clinics, schools, and communities. However, current research support for the efficacy of these interventions is limited. One significant challenge to the field of youth mindfulness research is the scarcity of reliable and valid measures of mindfulness that are both meaningful and appropriate for this population. Development of child and adolescent measures is vital, both for understanding the nature, degree, and role of mindfulness skills among youth and for ascertaining potential mechanisms of change in mindfulness-based interventions. Development of a measure that may be sensitive to treatment effects and mindfulness experience would also support more robust efficacy trials of mindfulness-based interventions. We propose to collect data using online survey methodology to validate a recently developed questionnaire measure of mindfulness for youth ages 8 to 18—the Mindfulness Inventory for Children and Adolescents (MICA; Briere, 2011). The MICA is an experimental questionnaire consisting of 25 questions that are believed to assess five discrete components of mindfulness: Self-acceptance, Present-centered Awareness; Equanimity; Metacognitive Awareness, and Acceptance of Internal Experience. This multi-factor approach may enhance the usefulness of this instrument as compared to the single-factor instruments currently available.

Specific Aims. The broad aim of the proposed study is to validate the MICA, which is a multi-factor questionnaire developed to assess mindfulness in youth ages 8 to 18.

Aim 1.   To examine the factor structure and internal reliability of the MICA.

Aim 2.   To evaluate convergent validity by comparing the MICA to two previously validated mindfulness measures: the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM; Greco, Smith, & Baer, 2011) and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale for Adolescents (MAAS-A; Brown, West, Loverich, & Biegel, 2011).

Aim 3.   To evaluate divergent validity by comparing the MICA to a validated measure of emotion regulation: the Emotion Regulation Index for Children and Adolescents (ERICA; MacDermott, Gullone, Allen, King, & Tonge, 2010).