Moderating Effect of Mindfulness on the Influence of Stress on Depression According to the Level of Stress among University Students in South Korea.
Kwang-Hi Park, Hyunlye Kim, Jaehee Kim
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health September 11, 2020 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17186634 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 738 |
| Population | Second- through fourth-year university students at five four-year universities in South Korea |
| Topics | Depression Meditation |
| Keywords | Humans Cross-sectional studies Stress, psychological Universities Adolescent Female Young adult Republic of korea University students |
| Key findings | Stress was associated with more depression and mindfulness with less depression among South Korean university students. Mindfulness moderated the stress-depression relationship only in the low-stress group, where the interaction was negative (β = -0.11) and significantly improved the model's explanatory power. |
Abstract
Stress and depression are representative of the mental health problems of university students worldwide. This cross-sectional study explored the moderating effect of mindfulness on the influence of stress on depression according to the degree of life stress. The participants were 738 university students in years 2-4 in five 4-year universities in South Korea. Depression was positively correlated with stress and negatively with mindfulness at a statistically significant level. In multiple regression analysis, stress was found to have an effect by increasing depression, and mindfulness by relieving depression. In the moderated multiple regression analysis, mindfulness had a moderating effect on the impact of stress on depression only in low-stress groups, showing that the interaction of stress with mindfulness was significantly negative (β = -0.11, t = -2.52, p = 0.012) and the inclusion of this interaction significantly increased the explanatory power for depression variation (F change 6.36, p = 0.012) in the full model. In conclusion, we suggest considering stress levels in the development of mindfulness-based intervention strategies to effectively manage the depression of university students.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on depression, most cited first.
Citations in the library
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- Effects of emotion vocabulary size and sensitivity to bodily sensations on depression: examining the role of mindfulness in adjustment. Discover Mental Health July 15, 2025
- Studi Kepustakaan Penerapan Teori Mindfulness untuk Mereduksi Stres Akademik Jurnal Psikoedukasi dan Konseling July 3, 2025
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