Dispositional Mindfulness and Past-Negative Time Perspective: The Differential Mediation Effects of Resilience and Inner Peace in Meditators and Non-Meditators.
Psychology Research and Behavior Management January 1, 2020 Jingjing Ge, Jingjing Yang, Jingjing Song et al.
People with a past-negative time perspective—a tendency to dwell on negative past experiences—are more prone to unhealthy behaviors, rumination, anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Dispositional mindfulness appears to reduce this negative focus, but the underlying mechanisms were unclear. In a cross-sectional study comparing 185 meditators and 181 non-meditators, mindfulness was positively linked to resilience and inner peace, while past-negative time perspective was negatively linked to all three. Resilience and inner peace partially explained the link between mindfulness and past-negative time perspective; among meditators the effect was fully mediated, whereas among non-meditators it was only partial. The authors suggest that consistent meditation practice strengthens mindfulness, resilience, and inner peace, thereby reducing past-negative time perspective, and that combining mindfulness with time-perspective interventions could help treat related mental health conditions.