Using Contemplative Practices to Promote College Students’ Socioemotional Competencies and Healthy Transition to College: A Conceptual and Empirical Analysis
Open Access
- Author:
- Dvorakova, Kamila
- Graduate Program:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 24, 2017
- Committee Members:
- Mark T Greenberg, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mark T Greenberg, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Robert William Roeser, Committee Member
Meg Leavy Small, Committee Member
Steriani Elavsky, Outside Member - Keywords:
- Mindfulness
transition to college
first year college students
wellbeing
education
compassion - Abstract:
- The transition to college reflects a period of a great flux and novelty in all areas of the young person’s life. In Western societies, many young people are expected to find their niche through college education or further vocational training and grow into healthy, independent, and contributing individuals. As a “rite of passage”, entering college is associated with separation from family and friends, transition to become independent and self-regulating, and integration into a new social and academic environment. Thus, college is characterized by both increased freedoms as well as heightened need to cope with new challenges in all areas of life. Unfortunately, there are numerous data sources that indicate that being a college student is stressful and the recent rise in mental health problems has been characterized as a “crisis”. When the normative developmental instability characteristic of emerging adulthood is paired with inadequate coping it provides a high-risk context for a wide range of negative consequences from poor adjustment to college, academic failure, substance abuse, to severe psychopathologies and disorders. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the developmental and socioemotional factors impacting transition and adjustment to college and the potential of contemplative practices to enhance first year college students’ health and wellbeing during this time period. First, I theoretically analyzed the stress and coping processes during transition to college and proposed a conceptual model of how mindfulness and compassion skills may strengthen college students’ coping processes before, during, and after a challenging encounter. Second, I presented the post-test outcomes of a randomized controlled trial that aimed to evaluate the Learning to BREATHE (L2B) mindfulness-based intervention in a convenience sample of 109 first year college students. The pre-post results showed that, compared to the control group, students in the intervention reported a significant decrease in depression and anxiety symptoms and increase in life satisfaction. Furthermore, we found a marginally significant decrease in sleep issues and alcohol consequences. Third, I evaluated the 3-month follow-up data of the L2B intervention and examined hypothesized factors that might mediate the outcomes. The findings showed that the assignment to the mindfulness intervention was predictive of a decrease in distress and an increase in life satisfaction at the 3-month follow-up. Furthermore, the increase in reported mindfulness states mediated the outcome of distress, but not life satisfaction. The greater use of mindfulness practices mediated both distress and life satisfaction outcomes at follow-up. I concluded that mindfulness-based practices may positively impact both prevention of students’ mental health issues and promotion of their socioemotional competencies. Given the current issues with worldwide instabilities, 21st century education needs to be multifaceted, providing youth with the necessary cognitive and socioemotional skills to face the increasingly more complex and fast-paced world. For young adults to become engaged citizens of our global society, essential aspects of their education need to include the development of inner clarity, compassion, and self-awareness. Mindfulness and compassion practices and skills may offer a developmental resource for handling both daily hassles as well as major transitions and life events through the combined effect of paying attention, regulating thoughts and emotions, and utilizing effective coping tools. Creation of mindful and compassionate communities may be the next step in the broader contemplative agenda that will allow young people to practice inner clarity, socioemotional competencies, and the desire to work together for the greater wellbeing of all. I look forward to that hopeful future.