Examining factors affecting youth value of mindful living in a short-term non-formal educational mindfulness program

The purpose of this study was to examine factors that affect youth value of mindful living, namely, selected demographic variables, awareness of mental events, awareness of physical sensations, and non-judgment of emotional experience. This quantitative study utilized a paper and pencil survey method to address the study objective. Study participants were youth who attended the two-hour non-formal educational Mindfulness Moments: Today and 4-Life program in Summer 2019 at 4-H camps. Most of the youth agreed or strongly agreed they valued mindful living. The results of the Pearson correlation coefficient test showed a very strong significant association between youth value of mindful living and awareness of mental events and awareness of physical sensations. A moderate significant association was identified between youth value of mindful living and nonjudgement of emotional experience. The results of chi-squared analysis showed a significant relationship between youth value of mindful living and gender. There were not significant relationships found between youth value of mindful living and religiosity and prior experience with mindfulness. Youth who are more aware and mindful during mindfulness programming are more likely to value mindful living. Practitioners of youth mindfulness programs in 4-H camp and other Extension education settings may want to focus on helping youth develop mindfulness skills before emphasizing the value of mindful living, as more mindful youth had higher values of mindful living in this study. Extension professionals may want to give more attention to boys in introductory mindfulness programming. Future studies should study factors that influence youth value of mindful living in other non-formal programming settings, especially 4-H camp and other Extension education settings. Future studies should pilot study surveys and utilize random sample methodology.