Abstract
There is some evidence that mindful parenting, a parenting approach that involves the practice of bringing mindful awareness to the parent-child relationship, is associated with several positive psychosocial outcomes in adolescents. However, only a few studies have investigated the mechanisms that may underlie that association. This study explores whether the link between mindful parenting and adolescents’ well-being is mediated by adolescents’ attachment representations, self-compassion and mindfulness skills. The sample comprised 563 parent-child dyads (95.6% mothers). Adolescents (61.5% girls) had a mean age of 14.26 years (SD = 1.66, range = 12–20). Parents completed a measure of mindful parenting, and adolescents completed measures of attachment representations, self-compassion, mindfulness, and well-being. Mindful parenting was indirectly associated with adolescents’ self-compassion and mindfulness through a more secure perception of the relationship with the parents, and was indirectly associated with adolescents’ well-being through perceived attachment security, self-compassion and mindfulness. The path model was invariant across stages of adolescence but some relations in the model varied across gender. Self-compassion and mindfulness seem to develop within a parent-child relationship characterized by affection, self-regulation, and mindful awareness. These two resources, along with mindful parenting and positive representations of the parent-child relationship, are associated with adolescents’ well-being.
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Authors’ Contributions
H.M. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analysis, and wrote the manuscript; M.J.G. participated in the data collection and interpretation of the data; M.C.C. revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under Grant SFRH/BPD/70063/2010.
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants (parents) included in the study. Informal assent was obtained from adolescents.
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Moreira, H., Gouveia, M.J. & Canavarro, M.C. Is Mindful Parenting Associated with Adolescents’ Well-being in Early and Middle/Late Adolescence? The Mediating Role of Adolescents’ Attachment Representations, Self-Compassion and Mindfulness. J Youth Adolescence 47, 1771–1788 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0808-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0808-7