Abstract
Young adults are at significant risk for increased substance abuse, worsening mental health issues, and elevated suicidal behaviors. These risks have increased since the beginning of the COVID -19 pandemic and subsequent quarantining. Self-help interventions (e.g., mindfulness meditation) are available to counteract these negative effects on mental health. Mindfulness meditation has become popular as a tool for stress reduction and an emotional regulation strategy for reducing rumination. There are significant health benefits to mindfulness-based interventions, such as increased awareness of emotions. Nevertheless, there are apparent disparities coinciding with employment and education level related to access to adequate health care and other qualities of life. The purpose of this mixed methods thesis project was to gain greater understanding of whether mindfulness is perceived as helpful to mental health among young adults, and how descriptions of mindfulness practice by young adults may differ as constructed by researchers and clinicians. Quantitative analyses found: (1) Current employment predicted greater adherence to formal mindful practice and trait mindfulness; (2) formal practice was associated with trait mindfulness; (3) adherence to informal practice yielded a significant inverse association with trait anxiety; (4) previous engagement in mindfulness predicted lower COVID-19 stress; and (5) avoidance coping acted as mediator between both employment status and college experience (as exogenous variables), and trait anxiety, generalized anxiety/depression, and COVID-19 stress (as endogenous variables). Further patterns were found in the exploratory qualitative analyses which suggest young adults define mindfulness activities similarly to clinicians and researchers.