Psychometric Validation and Demographic Differences in Two Recently Developed Trait Mindfulness Measures

<p>Although in recent years an increasingly large body of mindfulness research has accrued, there continues to be a lack of information about how to measure trait mindfulness, as well as whether it varies across demographic variables such as age and gender. Four hundred and six participants from across New Zealand completed a battery of self-report measures in order to examine demographic differences in mindfulness, as well as to look at how mindfulness predicts outcome variables such as happiness and depression. Additionally, psychometric validation was undertaken on two new trait measures of mindfulness: the Toronto Mindfulness Scale, which did not demonstrate good psychometric validity, and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, which did demonstrate good psychometric validity. This study found that females reported higher levels of mindfulness than males, though males demonstrated a stronger mediating relationship between mindfulness and happiness. In addition, higher levels of mindfulness were reported by older individuals; however, young adults manifested the strongest negative relationship between mindfulness and depression across the lifespan. These findings are then discussed in the context of clinical utility and future research.</p>