Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale – Adolescent

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Instrument Overview

Expert Notes AvailableView expert commentary on strengths and cautions for this instrument
Strengths

Strong evidence for measuring present-moment awareness and detecting change following mindfulness interventions.
Validated across U.S. adolescents and adults and multiple international student populations. Strong internal consistency (often α ≈ .85–.92).

Cautions

Self-report scores should not be treated as direct evidence of actual mindful behavior.

The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale – Adolescent (MAAS – A) is a 2011 adaptaption of the Brown & Ryan (2003) MAAS. It measures a single concept called dispositional mindfulness and is used for screening and progress monitoring. Research shows that higher scores relate to improved well-being. Students with higher scores are less likely to experience depressive episodes. 

Organization

Topic
Student Well-Being
Collection(s): Self-Directed Learning
Collection Category(ies)
Metacognitive
Tags
College readiness

Content

Grades
Post secondary
Respondent
Student

Administration Information

Length
14 items

Access and Use

Link
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3146710/ (See Table 1)
Open Access
Yes
Use in Research

Bluth, K., Campo, R. A., Futch, W. S., & Gaylord, S. A. (2017). Age and gender differences in the associations of self-compassion and emotional well-being in a large adolescent sample. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(4), 840–853.

Özcan, N. A., & Işıldar, H. K. (2021). The effects of the mindfulness program on 12th-grade high school students' perceived stress, mindfulness, and self-efficacy levels. Malaysian Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 9(3), 12–24.

Psychometrics (additional guidance)

Reliability

.82 (Cronbach's alpha); .70 (test-retest reliability)

Psychometric References

Brown, K. W., West, A. M., Loverich, T. M., & Biegel, G. M. (2011). Assessing adolescent mindfulness: Validation of an adapted Mindful Attention Awareness Scale in adolescent normative and psychiatric populations. Psychological Assessment, 23(4), 1023–1033.

de Bruin, E. I., Zijlstra, B. J. H., van de Weijer-Bergsma, E., & Bögels, S. M. (2011). The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale for Adolescents (MAAS-A): Psychometric properties in a Dutch sample. Mindfulness, 2(3), 201–211.

Lawlor, M. S., Schonert-Reichl, K. A., Gadermann, A. M., & Zumbo, B. D. (2014). A validation study of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale adapted for children. Mindfulness, 5(6), 730–741.

Item Type
Likert