Does mindfulness benefit adolescents' academic adaptation? The mediating roles of autonomous and controlled motivation.

Previous research demonstrated the relationship between mindfulness and academic performance among adolescents. However, there is a lack of research distinguishing between the five facets of mindfulness (observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judgment and non-reactivity) and their associated underlying mechanisms through motivation. The present study investigated whether autonomous and controlled motivation would mediate the relationship between the five facets of mindfulness and two indicators of academic performance - academic engagement and procrastination among adolescents. A sample of 713 Chinese students were recruited to complete a series of self-reported measures quantifying mindfulness, academic engagement, academic procrastination, and autonomous and controlled motivation. Results indicated that four out of five mindfulness facets– observing (r = 0.198), describing (r = 0.329), acting with awareness (r = 0.365), and non-reactivity (r = 0.187)– were positively correlated with academic engagement (ps < 0.001), whereas non-judgment showed a negative correlation (r=-0.115, p = 0.002). In terms of relationship with academic procrastination, three mindfulness facets– observing (r=-0.115, p = 0.002), describing (r=-0.289, p < 0.001) and acting with awareness (r=-0.365, p < 0.001) exhibited a negative association. Furthermore, autonomous and controlled motivation together mediated the relationships between four facets of mindfulness and academic engagement as well as academic procrastination. However, there was a non-significant mediating effect of controlled motivation in relation between describing and academic performance. Overall, the mediating effect of autonomous motivation was stronger than controlled motivation. Results also indicated that acting with awareness was a relatively more robust protective factor for academic engagement and academic procrastination. Hence, mindfulness intervention programs developed to improve academic performance among adolescents may benefit from targeting on autonomous motivation and the mindfulness facet of acting with awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]