COVID-19 pandemic effects on college student mental health: A cross-sectional cohort comparison study.

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate COVID-19 pandemic impacts on college student mental health. PARTICIPANTS: Three cohorts of college students (2018 n = 466; 2019 n = 459; 2020, n = 563; N = 1488) from three American universities. Participants were 71.4% female, 67.5% White, and 85.9% first-year students. METHODS: Multivariable regression models and bivariate correlations were used to compare anxiety, depression, well-being, and search for meaning before and during the pandemic, and the relationships between pandemic health-compliance behaviors and mental health. RESULTS: Anxiety, depression, and well-being did not significantly worsen during compared to before (2019) the pandemic (ps = .329-.837). During the pandemic, more frequent in-person social interactions were correlated with lower anxiety (r = -0.17, p < .001) and depressive symptoms (r=-0.12, p = .008), and higher well-being (r = 0.16, p < .001), but also less handwashing (r = -0.11, p = .016) and face mask-wearing (r = -0.12, p = .008). CONCLUSIONS: We observed little evidence for pandemic impacts on college student mental health. Lower compliance with pandemic health guidelines was associated with better mental health.

Does variability across three universities in the implementation of a college course on human flourishing affect student outcomes?

OBJECTIVE: This study explores whether variability in the implementation of an undergraduate course on human flourishing is differentially associated with student outcomes. PARTICIPANTS: 101 students in the "Art and Science of Human Flourishing" course across three large, public, R1 universities in Fall 2018 participated in the study. METHODS: Formative course data included researcher observations of weekly class pedagogy, students' weekly meditation practice logs and end-of-course assessments, and pre/post surveys measuring changes in participating students' outcomes related to flourishing (e.g., attentional skills, social-emotional skills, perspectives on flourishing, mental and physical health). RESULTS: Although course pedagogy and student engagement varied across the three universities, students' outcomes were nonetheless similar. CONCLUSIONS: Variability in course implementation did not appear to differentially affect students' outcomes. We tentatively conclude that other institutions interested in offering the flourishing course may make limited adaptations to fit their pedagogical preferences without concern for altering its impact on students.

Cultivating Compassion for Self and Others: A School-Based Pilot Study for Peer-Nominated Caring Adolescents.

Many have called for school-based student programs that teach skills related to self-care and caring for others. Here, such a program for peer-nominated adolescents was developed and piloted virtually at one high school during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a longitudinal, quasi-experimental evaluation of the program showed high-quality program implementation and promising program impacts. Effect sizes indicated moderate to large program impacts on improvements in adolescents' self-compassion, sense of interdependence, and perspective-taking, and female adolescents' interoceptive awareness, compared to controls. No group differences in compassion for others were found. The need for more research on programs that help adolescents balance compassion for the self and for others is discussed.

Women's beliefs of pain after childbirth: Critical insight for promoting behavioral strategies to regulate pain and reduce risks for maternal mortality.

OBJECTIVE: Promoting behavioral strategies to better regulate pain and decrease the use of prescription pain medications immediately after childbirth is an attractive approach to reduce risks for adverse outcomes associated with the maternal mortality crisis. This study aimed to understand women's beliefs and experiences about pain management to identify important insights for promoting behavioral strategies to control postpartum pain. METHODS: N = 32 postpartum women participated in a semi-structured interview about beliefs/experiences with managing postpartum pain. Higher- and lower-order themes were coded; descriptive statistics were used to summarize results. RESULTS: Major trends emerging from the data were: (1) most women used a combination of medications (e.g., oxycodone and acetaminophen) and behavioral strategies (e.g., physical activity) in the hospital (94 %) and at discharge (83 %); (2) some women reported disadvantages like negative side effects of medications and fatigue from physical activity; and (3) some women reported they would have preferred to receive more evidence-based education on behavioral strategies during prenatal visits. CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that most women were prescribed medications while in the hospital and at discharge, and used non-prescription, behavioral strategies. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Future research is needed to test behavioral strategies in randomized clinical trials and clinical care settings to identify impact on reducing adverse maternal health outcomes.

Can the Academic and Experiential Study of Flourishing Improve Flourishing in College Students? A Multi-University Study.

Objectives: Significant concerns have been raised about the "mental health crisis" on college campuses, with attention turning to what colleges can do beyond counseling services to address students' mental health and well-being. We examined whether primarily first-year (89.1%) undergraduate students (n=651) who enrolled in the Art and Science of Human Flourishing (ASHF), a novel academic and experiential for-credit elective course on human flourishing, would demonstrate improved mental health and strengthen skills, perspectives, and behaviors associated with flourishing relative to students who did not enroll in this course. Methods: In a two-wave, multi-site, propensity-score matched controlled trial (ASHF n=217, Control n=434; N=651), we used hierarchal linear models and false discovery rate corrected doubly robust estimates to evaluate the impact of the ASHF on attention and social-emotional skill development, flourishing perspectives, mental health, health, and risk behavior outcomes. Results: ASHF participants reported significantly improved mental health (i.e., reduced depression) and flourishing, improvements on multiple attention and social-emotional skills (e.g., attention function, self-compassion), and increases in prosocial attitudes (empathic concern, shared humanity; Cohen's ds= 0.18-0.46) compared to controls. There was no evidence for ASHF course impacts on health or risk behaviors, raising the possibility that these outcomes take more time to change. Conclusions: This research provides initial evidence that the ASHF course may be a promising curricular approach to reduce and potentially prevent poor mental health while promoting flourishing in college students. Continued research is needed to confirm these conclusions.

Results from a pre-post, uncontrolled pilot study of a mindfulness-based program for early elementary school teachers.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-based programs are a novel and promising approach for supporting teachers' occupational health and well-being. Although rationales for mindfulness programs for teachers have been offered, the empirical research base evaluating approaches for educating teachers in mindfulness is still developing. This study reports the findings of a pilot study of a mindfulness-based program. This study is unique in that it is one of the only studies of the Mindfulness-Based Emotional Balance (MBEB) program to focus on early elementary teachers, to be implemented by a new instructor, and to recruit teachers via extrinsic motivators. METHODS: A pre-post, uncontrolled pilot study of a 27.5-h mindfulness-based program for teachers was conducted with 21 pre-kindergarten-third-grade teachers from the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Program acceptability was assessed based on attendance and teacher reports of program benefits. Effect sizes for within-person changes (from pre- to post-program) in teachers' skills and mindsets, well-being, occupational health, and teaching practices were calculated. Teachers also suggested improvements to the program. RESULTS: With regard to program attendance and acceptability, teachers attended 87% of sessions, with 58% of teachers reporting a personal benefit and 58% of teachers reporting a professional benefit of the program. Effect sizes for changes in teachers' skills and mindsets ranged from small to large, |d| = 0.30 to 0.83, and ranged from small to medium for changes in teachers' well-being |d| = 0.07 to 0.48, occupational health |d| = 0.14 to 0.39, and teaching practices |d| = 0.15 to 0.48. Teachers suggested shortening the program and linking it more closely to their work in the classroom. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the MBEB program may be beneficial to early elementary teachers, even when implemented by someone other than the program developer, and when provided with extrinsic motivation to participate (more closely mapping to a larger-scale trial of the program). Teachers' suggestions regarding program length and structure are considered, along with useful avenues for future research on mindfulness-based programs for teachers.

How is Mindfulness Linked to Negative and Positive Affect? Rumination as an Explanatory Process in a Prospective Longitudinal Study of Adolescents.

Research shows greater mindfulness is associated with less negative affect and more positive affect. Fewer studies have examined the mediating psychological processes linking mindfulness to these outcomes in adolescents. This three-wave, prospective longitudinal study examines rumination-the tendency to engage in repetitive and negative self-focused thinking-as one potential explanatory process. High school students (N = 599, Mage = 16.3 years; 49% girls) completed a short-form version of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, in addition to self-report measures of rumination and negative and positive affect three times over the course of a school year. Autoregressive, cross-lagged panel models tested reciprocal, prospective associations between mindfulness, rumination, and negative and positive affect, while accounting for prior levels of each construct, within-wave covariances, and gender and grade level. The results showed that the nonjudgment mindfulness facet (and the total mindfulness score) predicted cross-wave reductions in rumination, that in turn predicted cross-wave reductions in negative affect. No evidence for mediation was found for positive affect, or for any of the other mindfulness facets (describe, acting with awareness, and nonreactivity). This study provides suggestive evidence that individual differences in mindfulness, and in particular nonjudgmental acceptance, prospectively predict less negative affect through lower rumination.

Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of a Measure of Ethnic Identity Among Black South African Youth.

The authors examined the dimensionality and psychometric properties of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) among Black South African adolescents (ages = 13-14; 52% female) representing several ethnic groups (Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu) and evaluated the measure for differential item functioning primarily among four ethnic groups (Sotho, Tswana, Xhosa, and Zulu). Results indicated that a two-dimensional model best represented the data, reflecting ethnic search/clarity and ethnic affirmations. Subsequently, we evaluated the equivalence of the MEIM among the four South African ethnic groups and a sample of African American adolescents (Mage  = 15.57 years; SD = 1.22; 51% female). Further analyses revealed that configural and metric models were excellent across the four South African ethnic groups and the African American group. However, scalar invariance (i.e., intercept) was not found; the item intercepts were different for the South African ethnic groups and African Americans. Findings are discussed with consideration for conducting research on ethnic identity among youth in South Africa.

On the role of mindfulness and compassion skills in students' coping, well-being, and development across the transition to college: A conceptual analysis.

In this paper, we aim to integrate the current conceptual approaches to stress and coping processes during the college transition with the potential role of mindfulness and compassion (MC) skills on students' well-being and development. First, we provide an overview of the issues and challenges emerging adults are facing during the transition to college, drawing on the revised version of the transactional stress model by Lazarus and Folkman (1984). Second, we introduce a conceptual model of adaptive stress and coping processes enhanced by MC skills to positively impact the appraisal and coping resources and emerging adults' mental health. Specifically, MC skills may play an important role in promoting a healthy stress response by strengthening emerging adults' socioemotional competencies and supporting the development of adaptive appraisal and coping resources, including processes antecedent and consequent to a coping encounter. In particular, MC skills were hypothesized to enhance (a) preparedness to cope, (b) productive stress response through adaptive appraisals and skillful deployment of coping resources, and (c) healthy postcoping reflections. Therefore, MC skills may be a useful preventive tool to strengthen emerging adults' ability to adjust to a new academic environment and fulfil the developmental tasks of this period.

Cultivating teacher mindfulness: Effects of a randomized controlled trial on work, home, and sleep outcomes.

The effects of randomization to a workplace mindfulness training (WMT) or a waitlist control condition on teachers' well-being (moods and satisfaction at work and home), quantity of sleep, quality of sleep, and sleepiness during the day were examined in 2 randomized, waitlist controlled trials (RCTs). The combined sample of the 2 RCTs, conducted in Canada and the United States, included 113 elementary and secondary school teachers (89% female). Measures were collected at baseline, postprogram, and 3-month follow-up; teachers were randomly assigned to condition after baseline assessment. Results showed that teachers randomized to WMT reported less frequent bad moods at work and home, greater satisfaction at work and home, more sleep on weekday nights, better quality sleep, and decreased insomnia symptoms and daytime sleepiness. Training-related group differences in mindfulness and rumination on work at home at postprogram partially mediated the reductions in negative moods at home and increases in sleep quality at follow-up. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mindfulness and compassion in human development: introduction to the special section.

Research on contemplative practices (e.g., mindfulness or compassion training) is growing rapidly in the clinical, health and neuro-sciences, but almost none of this research takes an explicitly developmental life span perspective. At present, we know rather little about the naturalistic development of mindfulness or compassion in children and adolescents, or the processes by which parents can socialize these positive qualities in their offspring. Thus, the goal of this special section is to showcase empirical research articles that redress this absence of a developmental focus in contemplative science by focusing on issues of construct conceptualization and measurement, socialization practices in families, and the role that interventions can play in fostering mindfulness and compassion in children, adolescents, and care-givers alike.

Mindfulness and compassion training in adolescence: a developmental contemplative science perspective.

Adolescence is a developmental period of risk, as well as a window of opportunity for cultivating positive development and thriving. It is characterized by simultaneous changes in the brain, body, mind, and social domains that offer a platform for building new skills and habits. This chapter discusses the role that secular forms of mindfulness and compassion training may play in fostering positive development in adolescence. The emerging discipline of "Developmental Contemplative Science" (DCS) is introduced, the theoretical and empirical basis of mindfulness in adolescence is illustrated in depth, and secular mindfulness and compassion practices for youth are portrayed. Last, this chapter offers an agenda for future research on connecting mindfulness to key developmental domains in adolescence.

Mindfulness training effects for parents and educators of children with special needs.

Parents and teachers of children with special needs face unique social-emotional challenges in carrying out their caregiving roles. Stress associated with these roles impacts parents' and special educators' health and well-being, as well as the quality of their parenting and teaching. No rigorous studies have assessed whether mindfulness training (MT) might be an effective strategy to reduce stress and cultivate well-being and positive caregiving in these adults. This randomized controlled study assessed the efficacy of a 5-week MT program for parents and educators of children with special needs. Participants receiving MT showed significant reductions in stress and anxiety and increased mindfulness, self-compassion, and personal growth at program completion and at 2 months follow-up in contrast to waiting-list controls. Relational competence also showed significant positive changes, with medium-to-large effect sizes noted on measures of empathic concern and forgiveness. MT significantly influenced caregiving competence specific to teaching. Mindfulness changes at program completion mediated outcomes at follow-up, suggesting its importance in maintaining emotional balance and facilitating well-being in parents and teachers of children with developmental challenges.

An Education in Awareness: Self, Motivation, and Self-Regulated Learning in Contemplative Perspective.

Consistent with the aims of this special issue, we present a systems perspective on self/identity, predicated on William James's classic distinction between I and Me, and use this perspective to explore conceptual relations between self/identity, motivation to learn, and self-regulated learning. We define the I self functionally in terms of the capacity for the conscious shifting and sustaining of awareness. The I is conceived of as that aspect of the self-system that affords the potential for the conscious and willful, rather than the non-conscious and automatic, motivation and regulation of behavior. We introduce contemplative education as a set of pedagogical practices designed to cultivate conscious awareness in an ethical-relational context in which the values of personal growth, learning, moral living, and caring for others are nurtured. We discuss the implications of contemplative education for the cultivation of conscious and willful forms of learning and living among students and educators alike.

South African-ness Among Adolescents: The Emergence of a Collective Identity within the Birth to Twenty Cohort Study.

We assessed the emergence of a South African identity among Black, Colored (mixed ancestral origin), White (predominantly English speaking), and Indian adolescents participating in a birth cohort study called "Birth to Twenty" in Johannesburg, South Africa. We examined young people's certainty of their self-categorization as South African, the centrality of their personal, racial and linguistic, and South African identities in their self-definition, and their perceptions of South African life and society today. These results reflect a historical opportunity for full citizenship and national enfranchisement that the end of Apartheid heralded for Black and Colored individuals. Black and Colored youth tend to be more certain about their South African-ness, have a more collective identity, and have a more positive perception around South Africa. In contrast, White and Indian youth are less certain about their South African-ness, have a more individualistic identity, and have a less positive perception about South Africa today.

Exploring the Roles of Extracurricular Activity Quantity and Quality in the Educational Resilience of Vulnerable Adolescents: Variable- and Pattern-Centered Approaches.

This longitudinal study examines how extracurricular activity involvement contributes to "educational resilience"-the unexpected educational attainments of adolescents who are otherwise vulnerable to curtailed school success due to personal- and social-level risks. Educationally vulnerable youth characterized by significant risks and an absence of assets were identified during early adolescence (approximately age 14) using measures of academic motivation, achievement, and mental health as well as family, school, and peer contexts. Using a mixture of variable- and pattern-centered analytic techniques, we investigate how both the total amount time that vulnerable youth spent in positive extracurricular activities and the specific pattern of their extracurricular activity involvement during late adolescence (approximately age 17) predict their subsequent enrollment in college during early adulthood (up through approximately age 21). Educational resilience was predicted uniquely by some, but not all, activity patterns. These results suggest that positive extracurricular activity settings afford vulnerable youth developmentally appropriate experiences that promote educational persistence and healthy development.