Date of Award

Winter 1-15-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA - Master of Arts

Department

Mindfulness Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Melissa Jean

Second Advisor

Dr. Andrew Olendzki

Abstract

The college experience offers young people unique opportunities for personal growth and academic development. However, it is widely recognized that college and university students suffer from unprecedented rates of anxiety and depression. Mindfulness, often defined as paying attention on purpose, moment-to-moment, without judgment, has the potential to not only reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression but also to promote flourishing. By integrating mindfulness into the first-year college curriculum, educators facilitate students’ abilities to a) better understand their emotional responses so that they might navigate stress, relationships, and challenges with greater ease, b) better recognize their strengths and weaknesses, and make more informed decisions about their academic and career paths, and c) connect more deeply with their core values and goals so that their choices align with their long-term aspirations.

This creative thesis project argues for integrating mindfulness into the first-year program or college composition curriculum and provides relevant resources. It first describes the recent surge in mindfulness research, particularly mindfulness in education, before reviewing meta-analyses that suggest MBIs are effective in decreasing stress and anxiety in non-clinical post-secondary populations. The thesis highlights individual studies that investigate MBIs potential to promote flourishing, particularly social connectedness, meaning and purpose, and life satisfaction, before reflecting on the pedagogical precedent in the work of educators, researchers, philosophers, and scholars such as William James, Paulo Friere, Ellen Langer, and Parker J. Palmer. It concludes by providing introductory resources for the first-year college curriculum.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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