Young and restless: validation of the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) reveals disruptive impact of mind-wandering for youth
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Mind-wandering is the focus of extensive investigation, yet until recently there has been no validated scale to directly measure trait levels of task-unrelated thought. Scales commonly used to assess mind-wandering lack face validity, measuring related constructs such as daydreaming or behavioral errors. Here we report four studies validating a Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) across college, high school, and middle school samples. The 5-item scale showed high internal consistency, as well as convergent validity with existing measures of mind-wandering and related constructs. Trait levels of mind-wandering, as measured by the MWQ, were correlated with task-unrelated thought measured by thought sampling during a test of reading comprehension. In both middle school and high school samples, mind-wandering during testing was associated with worse reading comprehension. By contrast, elevated trait levels of mind-wandering predicted worse mood, less life-satisfaction, greater stress, and lower self-esteem. By extending the use of thought sampling to measure mind-wandering among adolescents, our findings also validate the use of this methodology with younger populations. Both the MWQ and thought sampling indicate that mind-wandering is a pervasive-and problematic-influence on the performance and well-being of adolescents.
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Children aged 8-13 are able to report mind wandering in a valid way.
“Previous evidence has documented that children in the chosen age range (i.e., 8-13) were (a) able to report MW in a valid way (Keulers & Jonkman, 2019;Mrazek et al., 2013;Ye et al., 2014)”
From Text‐to‐speech applications to reduce mind wandering in students with dyslexia (2022) · cites this paper as Mrazek et al., 2013
The General discussion says children as young as 11 could report their attention in a way that correlated with reading comprehension and well-being. Study 4 tested sixth- and seventh-grade students, so this paper supports valid reporting for part of the stated 8–13 age range, but provides no evidence for children aged 8–10. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe MWQ has a reliability of 0.84 (Cronbach's alpha).
“Scores were from 6 to 30, and reliability was 0.84 (Cronbach's alpha).”
From Text‐to‐speech applications to reduce mind wandering in students with dyslexia (2022) · cites this paper as Mrazek et al., 2013
Study 1 Results and discussion (page not specified) reports good MWQ internal consistency, but gives Cronbach’s alpha as 0.850, not 0.84. Table 1 lists five items scored from 1 to 6, implying a summed range of 5 to 30 rather than 6 to 30. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe Japanese-translated version of the Mind-Wandering Questionnaire has construct validity and internal consistency.
“This questionnaire assesses the frequency of the interruption of task-focus (distraction) by task-unrelated thought (five items; e.g., “I mind-wander during lectures or presentations”) and has construct validity and internal consistency [72, 73].”
From Benefits of mindfulness in academic settings: trait mindfulness has incremental validity over motivational factors in predicting academic affect, cognition, and behavior (2022) · cites this paper as [73]
Study 1, Results and discussion, reports good internal consistency and homogeneity for the five-item MWQ; Study 2 reports convergent validity. The paper validates the MWQ in college, high-school, and middle-school samples, but does not establish those properties for a Japanese-translated version. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredItems for the MWQ were written in simple language, and the MWQ has also been used with young participants.
“Items for the MWQ were written in simple language, and it has also been used with young participants.”
From Text‐to‐speech applications to reduce mind wandering in students with dyslexia (2022) · cites this paper as Mrazek et al., 2013
The Mind Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) is a 5-item self-report measure of the frequency of mind-wandering, irrespective of whether mind-wandering is deliberate or spontaneous.
“The Mind Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ;Mrazek et al., 2013) is a 5-item self-report measure of the frequency of mind-wandering, irrespective of whether mind-wandering is deliberate or spontaneous.”
From Text‐to‐speech applications to reduce mind wandering in students with dyslexia (2022) · cites this paper as Mrazek et al., 2013
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Text‐to‐speech applications to reduce mind wandering in students with dyslexia
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Nayda, D. M., & Takarangi, M. K. T. (2021) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.053 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Children’s mental time travel during mind wandering
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Kuroda, Y., Yamakawa, O., & Ito, M. (2022) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-022-00746-3 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
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Spontaneous future cognition: the past, present and future of an emerging topic
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Metaphor can influence meta-thinking and affective levels in guided meditation
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Mind wandering in anxiety disorders: A status report
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Training satisfaction relative to turnover intention: the mediating role of employee loyalty
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Mind wandering increases linearly with text difficulty
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Internet Gaming Disorder Increases Mind-Wandering in Young Adults
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Individual differences in musical ability among adults with no music training
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No More Bricks in the Wall: Adopting Healthy Lifestyles through Physical Education Classes
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Can musical ability be tested online?
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How Chanting Relates to Cognitive Function, Altered States and Quality of Life
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Mind‐wandering in children with and without ADHD
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Attention, mindwandering, and mood
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Self-citationThe link between mind wandering and learning in children
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Personality and Mind-Wandering Self-Perception: The Role of Meta-Awareness
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- Authors
- Mrazek, M. D., Phillips, D. T., Franklin, M. S., Broadway, J. M., & Schooler, J. W.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mrazek, Michael D.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 4
- Pages
- 560-560
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3753539
- OpenAlex
- W2077185468
- Cited by
- 400
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 40 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 45 · 2022: 58 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 4.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Education (R305A110277)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Mind wandering and attention
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Functions and Memory
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Psychological and Educational Research Studies
- Keywords
- mind wandering, task-unrelated thoughts, adolescents, reading comprehension, mood, life satisfaction, stress, self-esteem, scale validation, face validity
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