Abstract

Using an event sampling procedure with a sample of 114 early adolescent boys and girls, the present study investigated three fundamental questions about the associations between mindfulness, social relations, stress, and emotional well-being. These questions concerned (a) the defining features of mindfulness as a state and trait construct, (b) whether mindfulness is naturally occurring or cultivated exclusively through "formal" practice, and (c) whether or not mindfulness is related to social functioning. Following a review of four conceptually- and empirically-related areas of inquiry, specifically perceived stress, emotion, mindfulness, and peer relations, a set of hypotheses were proposed and examined. As expected, mindfulness was observed to be both a state and trait. At the state level, perceived stress partially mediated between mindfulness and negative emotion. At the trait level, mindfulness was: positively correlated with positive emotion, friendship extensivity, and popularity; negatively correlated with perceived stress, negative emotion, anxiety, and depression. Trait mindfulness was observed to moderate the associations between (a) negative emotion and friendship extensivity, (b) depression and friendship extensivity, and (c) negative emotion and popularity. Trait mindfulness predicted state mindfulness, and it predicted state stress and state negative emotion, though not as well as state mindfulness. The following results were contrary to expectation. At the trait level, mindfulness: was not associated with age, did not moderate between perceived stress and emotional well-being, and did not moderate between perceived stress and social functioning. Finally, an unexpected and noteworthy finding was that mindfulness loaded on the same factor as stress, negative emotion, and depression ( preoccupied non-acceptance ; mindfulness loaded negatively, the other traits positively), and this factor was negatively associated with another factor, social competence . This finding suggests that mindfulness is associated with both emotional well-being and social functioning. In sum, these results suggest that mindfulness is a state and trait, naturally occurring, and related to interpersonal functioning in early adolescence. Implications, study limitations, and future directions are discussed.