Mindfulness' effects on stress, coping, and mood: A daily diary goodness-of-fit study.
Lucy Finkelstein-Fox, Crystal L Park, Kristen E Riley
Emotion August 23, 2018 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000495 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study using daily diary questionnaires Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 157 |
| Population | Undergraduate students (mean age 17.81; 79% women) |
| Duration | 1 week of daily diary questionnaires |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Keywords | Humans Adaptation, psychological Stress, psychological Emotions Affect Adolescent Female Surveys and questionnaires |
| Key findings | Lower average stress appraisals mediated 19% of mindfulness' effects on negative affect, and average use of non-self-blame and acceptance coping independently mediated 3%-13% of mindfulness' effects on positive and negative affect. Coping flexibility did not appear to mediate mindfulness' effects on either affect type. The authors propose that mindfulness-based stress management may be most effective when it promotes mindful coping to complement, rather than replace, problem-focused coping. |
Abstract
Dispositional mindfulness is often linked to higher positive affect and lower negative affect, and coping with stress has been hypothesized to mediate these links. However, few studies have explicitly tested the ways in which stress appraisals, coping strategies, or coping flexibility (i.e., fit of coping to controllability appraisals) uniquely relate to mindfulness and well-being. Drawing on a stress and coping framework, the present study tested the degree to which (a) lower stress appraisals mediate mindfulness' effects on daily positive and negative affect; (b) daily coping mediates mindfulness' impact on daily positive and negative affect, above and beyond the effects of stress appraisals; and (c) coping flexibility mediates mindfulness' impact on positive and negative affect, above and beyond the effects of stress appraisals and average daily coping. Participants were 157 undergraduate students (mean age = 17.81; 79% women), completing daily diary questionnaires regarding stress appraisals, coping, and affect for 1 week. Results demonstrate that lower average stress appraisals mediated 19% of mindfulness' effects on negative affect; further, average use of some "mindful" emotion-focused coping strategies (i.e., non-self-blame and acceptance) independently mediated 3%-13% of mindfulness' effects on positive and negative affect. Although mindfulness was associated with greater "fit" of problem-focused versus acceptance coping to high controllability appraisals, coping flexibility did not appear to mediate mindfulness' effects on either positive or negative affect. Thus, mindfulness-based stress management interventions may be most effective by promoting mindful coping to complement, rather than replace, problem-focused coping. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups | 2008 | Cross-sectional study | |
| Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Adult participants | 2007 | Observational cross-sectional | n = 27 |
| Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). School-aged children and adolescents | 2011 | Cross-sectional validation study | n = 1,413 |
| Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators Experienced meditators and demographically matched nonmeditators | 2012 | Cross-sectional study | n = 152 |
| Mechanisms of Action in the Inverse Relationship Between Mindfulness and Psychological Distress Undergraduates | 2008 | Cross-sectional, correlational |
Citations in the library
Cited by 12
- Mindfulness, coping, and optimism as mechanisms of change in the 3RP-NF intervention. Journal of Clinical Psychology February 1, 2024
- Effectiveness of brief mindfulness training for athletes' mood: The moderating effect of burnout. Acta Psychologica May 1, 2025
- The Relationship between Mindfulness and Resilience in Maltese Undergraduates: A study of Affective Well-being as a Potential Mediator International Journal of Emotional Education July 20, 2023
- Stress appraisal and emotion regulation mediate the association between mindfulness and affect in cancer patients: Differential mechanisms for positive and negative affect. Psycho-Oncology August 16, 2023
- Coping Style as a Mediator in the Associations between Dispositional Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Loneliness PsyArXiv August 7, 2023
and 7 more in the library
Cites 12
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Using Self-Report Assessment Methods to Explore Facets of Mindfulness Assessment January 27, 2006
- Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 2004
- Mechanisms of mindfulness Journal of Clinical Psychology December 29, 2005
- Mindfulness: Theoretical Foundations and Evidence for its Salutary Effects Psychological Inquiry October 19, 2007
and 7 more in the library