Abstract
Over the last 30 years, sports psychology has focused on creating interventions that increase sports performance in athletes (Birrer & Morgan, 2012). Recently, interest in mindfulness-based interventions has increased in sports psychology. Whereas mindfulness-based interventions have become increasingly popular in treating athletes to increase sports performance, there is still little known about its effects on factors such as ethnicity, gender, sport type and college adjustment. This study explored the relationship of ethnicity, gender, and sport type on the level of trait mindfulness in student athletes. Participants were 307 collegiate and club/IM student athletes who completed trait mindulfness and college adjustment assessments. Results showed student athletes' ability to be mindful in every day life is not influenced by their ethnicity or whether they play in an individual versus team sport. Male student athletes had higher levels of overall mindfulness and were more accepting and nonjudgmental of their internal experiences than female student athletes. No interaction was found between ethnicity, gender, and sport type and the level of trait mindfulness in student athletes. Student athletes who were more mindful in everyday life were associated with greater psychological adjustment to college. Likewise, student athletes who were more accepting of their internal experiences were associated with greater psychological adjustment to college. Results are discussed within the context of implementing mindfulness-based interventions to help increase college adjustment in student athletes.