PRC Seminar: Cultivating Mindfulness in the Second Decade of Life

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This talk will describe a series of studies with adolescent samples to understand how mindfulness develops and various practices for cultivating it intentionally. The first study examines naturalistic development of one facet of mindfulness—nonreactivity to inner experiences—during the transition from middle school to high school and its associations with perceived stress and emotional well-being. The second study tests the short-term effect of a week long, intensive mindfulness retreat on various indices of social-emotional and cognitive functioning. The third and final study leverages a well-known technique from motivation science—action planning—to boost mindfulness practice in daily life. The talk will end with a discussion of the implications for contemplative science and directions for future research.