Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM).

Abstract

This article presents 4 studies (N = 1,413) describing the development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). In Study 1 (n = 428), the authors determined procedures for item development and examined comprehensibility of the initial 25 items. In Study 2 (n = 334), they reduced the initial item pool from 25 to 10 items through exploratory factor analysis. Study 3 (n = 332) evaluated the final 10-item measure in a cross-validation sample, and Study 4 (n = 319) determined validity coefficients for the CAMM using bivariate and partial correlations with relevant variables. Results suggest that the CAMM is a developmentally appropriate measure with adequate internal consistency. As expected, CAMM scores were positively correlated with quality of life, academic competence, and social skills and negatively correlated with somatic complaints, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behavior problems. Correlations were reduced but generally still significant after controlling for the effects of 2 overlapping processes (thought suppression and psychological inflexibility). Overall, results suggest that the CAMM may be a useful measure of mindfulness skills for school-aged children and adolescents.

Chronic Childhood Stress: Psychometric Properties of the Chronic Stress Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (CSQ-CA) in Three Independent Samples

“…The CAMM has been shown to be reliable, and mindfulness total scores correlated positively with quality of life, social skills and academic performance. Negative correlations were shown with somatic complaints, internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors (Greco et al 2011). Reliability in this sample was good (α = .80).…”

“…The 10-items CAMM (De Bruin et al 2013;Greco et al 2011) is a measure of mindfulness in children and adolescents. Items are rated on a 5-point scale.…”

School-Based Mindfulness Instruction: An RCT

“…Mindfulness was measured with the 10-item Children's Acceptance and Mindfulness Measure, [15][16][17] which had good reliability in our sample (α = 0.74 and 0.73). The widely used Perceived Stress Scale 18 showed low reliability within our sample (α = 0.41 and 0.29); by using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) methods, we extracted 2 factors: positive/coping (4 items) and stress (6 items), which had improved reliability (α = 0.64-0.75).…”

A Prospective Examination of Self-Compassion as a Predictor of Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents

“…With the exception of the Mindfulness subscale, findings from the reliability analyses conducted by Bluth and Blanton (2013) on each of the six subscales of the original SCS-administered to adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18-were broadly similar to those obtained in the current study. For research with child and adolescent samples, a more reliable measure assessing the specific skills entailed by the multifaceted construct of mindfulness may be indicated for researchers specifically interested in this area (see Greco, Baer, & Smith, 2011).…”