Background: Although meditation and yoga have been associated with higher trait mindfulness in general, they may help practitioners cultivate different qualities of mindfulness that manifest in different trait mindfulness profile scores.

Primary study objective: This study tested the hypothesis that college students who practice both meditation and yoga report the highest overall trait mindfulness scores and also explored the possibility that scores on specific facets of mindfulness may differ as a function of the meditation or yoga experience.

Methods/design: The study used a cross-sectional online survey (n = 529). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) controlling for gender was used to compare students with neither meditation nor yoga experience, only meditation experience, only yoga experience, and both meditation and yoga experience, in terms of overall trait mindfulness (CAMS-R), five specific facets of trait mindfulness (FFMQ), decentering, and self-compassion. An exploratory analysis was also conducted to assess the construct validity of the FFMQ as a function of the meditation/yoga experience.

Setting: Public university in Mid-Atlantic U.S.

Participants: An undergraduate student convenience sample (age: 18-56 years; gender: 66% F; ethnicity: 32% racial minority).

Results: There were no significant effects of the meditation/yoga experience on any outcome measure. Pairwise comparisons show that non-reactivity was significantly higher in the practitioners of both meditation and yoga compared to non-practitioners (P = .046, d = .026). Overall trait mindfulness was significantly higher in practitioners of both, compared to meditators only (P = .045, d = .064). Reliability and convergent validity of the FFMQ-SF were generally worse in non-practitioners.

Conclusion: Testing for differences in trait mindfulness using the FFMQ-SF may not be reliable or valid in college students, particularly when students have little meditation or yoga experience. Future research with this population should utilize the long form of the FFMQ, collect additional data about participants' meditation and yoga practice, and strongly consider using multiple methods to assess mindfulness.