Understanding How Mindful Parenting May Be Linked to Mother–Adolescent Communication

Researchers have sought to understand the processes that may promote effective parent–adolescent communication because of the strong links to adolescent adjustment. Mindfulness, a relatively new construct in Western psychology that derives from ancient Eastern traditions, has been shown to facilitate communication and to be beneficial when applied in the parenting context. In this article, we tested if and how mindful parenting was linked to routine adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation within a longitudinal sample of rural and suburban, early adolescents and their mothers (n = 432; mean adolescent age = 12.14, 46 % male, 72 % Caucasian). We found that three factors—negative parental reactions to disclosure, adolescent feelings of parental over-control, and the affective quality of the parent–adolescent relationship—mediated the association between mindful parenting and adolescent disclosure and parental solicitation. Results suggest that mindful parenting may improve mother–adolescent communication by reducing parental negative reactions to information, adolescent perceptions of over-control, and by improving the affective quality of the parent–adolescent relationship. The discussion highlights intervention implications and future directions for research.