A College First-Year Mindfulness Seminar to Enhance Psychological Well-Being and Cognitive Function.

Mindfulness training (MT) has shown promise in improving psychological health among college students, yet has rarely been evaluated as an addition to the college academic curriculum. Here, we demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of a first-year MT seminar offered to residential students at a selective private university, evaluating its impact on psychological and cognitive functioning, in relationship to a comparable positive psychology seminar. The results suggest the potential for first-year programs that promote student well-being.

Effects of mindfulness training on daily stress response in college students: Ecological momentary assessment of a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness training has been shown to reduce rates of depression, anxiety and perceived stress, but its impact on stress and emotion regulation in real-world settings in the college-aged population is unknown. This study examines the effect of an 8-session long mindfulness training on first-year college students' daily experiences of stress and emotion regulation. METHODS: Fifty-two first-year students were randomized to the mindfulness training or the waitlist-control group during the fall academic semester. Before, during and after the trial, students completed 10-days of ecological momentary assessments (EMA), reporting on family and school or work stress, negative emotion, rumination, and interference by unwanted thoughts and emotions up to four times a day. Multilevel regression analysis compared levels of momentary stress and emotion regulation difficulties, as well as the strength of the moment-level association between stress and emotion regulation, by intervention condition, before, during and after the trial. RESULTS: Controls showed an exacerbation of family stress related negative emotion, rumination and interference, across the fall semester. However, intervention youth showed stable levels of emotion regulation responses to family stress across the semester. Emotion regulation responses to school or work stress did not differ by intervention condition. CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness training helps to prevent the depletion of emotion regulation capacity in this sample of relatively healthy first-year college students. EMAs allow the assessment of emotion regulation in the context of naturally occurring stress, and enhances the specificity and external validity of evaluations of psychological interventions.

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.

Promoting healthy transition to college through mindfulness training with first-year college students: Pilot randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Given the importance of developmental transitions on young adults' lives and the high rates of mental health issues among U.S. college students, first-year college students can be particularly vulnerable to stress and adversity. This pilot study evaluated the effectiveness and feasibility of mindfulness training aiming to promote first-year college students' health and wellbeing. PARTICIPANTS: 109 freshmen were recruited from residential halls (50% Caucasian, 66% female). Data collection was completed in November 2014. METHODS: A randomized control trial was conducted utilizing the Learning to BREATHE (L2B) program, a universal mindfulness program adapted to match the developmental tasks of college transition. RESULTS: Participation in the pilot intervention was associated with significant increase in students' life satisfaction, and significant decrease in depression and anxiety. Marginally significant decrease was found for sleep issues and alcohol consequences. CONCLUSIONS: Mindfulness-based programs may be an effective strategy to enhance a healthy transition into college.