Mindfulness in the Context of Romantic Relationships: Initial Development and Validation of the Relationship Mindfulness Measure

Trait mindfulness and mindfulness in the context of romantic relationships may not be completely overlapping constructs. This study adapted an existing measure of trait mindfulness to assess the tendency to be mindful in romantic relationships, the Relationship Mindfulness Measure (RMM). Using data from 185 young adults, the results supported the RMM's internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and concurrent and predictive validity. The RMM accounted for a significant portion of variance in positive relationship quality, negative relationship quality, and anxious and avoidant attachment, even after controlling for trait mindfulness. Based on these findings, assessing relationship mindfulness may improve research exploring the role of mindfulness in romantic relations and therefore facilitate the development and refinement of mindfulness training programs for couples.     

Tracing the roots of mindfulness: Transcendence in Buddhism and Christianity

The field of social work has embraced mindfulness skills in the training of social workers and as an intervention used in practice. However, there is little discussion regarding the theoretical or religious roots of mindfulness. In addition, social workers often employ mindfulness by practicing within a behaviorist frame. Missing from this behaviorist frame are the historic religious definitions, aims, and values of mindfulness, which lead to a fuller understanding of mindfulness in social work practice. This article traces the religious roots of mindfulness to clarify its goals in both Buddhism and Christianity, with an emphasis on the Mahayana branch of Buddhism and the contemplative and mystical traditions within Christianity. In both religions, mindfulness leads one to an experience of transcendence, assisting the follower to realize that the self belongs in relationship with a divine oneness in Buddha nature, that is believed to be intrinsic to all sentient beings (in Buddhism), or a divine God through the person of Jesus Christ (in Christianity) where the self is retained. Social workers uphold the values of mindfulness and the profession itself when being sensitive to root mindfulness practice within its historical and religious contexts, particularly within Buddhist and Christian faith systems.     

Developing Mindfulness in College Students Through Movement-Based Courses: Effects on Self-Regulatory Self-Efficacy,Mood, Stress,and Sleep Quality

Abstract

Objective: This study examined whether mindfulness increased through participation in movement-based courses and whether changes in self-regulatory self-efficacy, mood, and perceived stress mediated the relationship between increased mindfulness and better sleep. Participants: 166 college students enrolled in the 2007–2008 academic year in 15 week classes in Pilates, Taiji quan, or GYROKINESIS. Methods: At beginning, middle, and end of the semester, participants completed measures of mindfulness, self-regulatory self-efficacy, mood, perceived stress, and sleep quality. Results: Total mindfulness scores and mindfulness subscales increased overall. Greater changes in mindfulness were directly related to better sleep quality at the end of the semester after adjusting for sleep disturbance at the beginning. Tiredness, Negative Arousal, Relaxation, and Perceived Stress mediated the effect of increased mindfulness on improved sleep. Conclusions: Movement-based courses can increase mindfulness. Increased mindfulness accounts for changes in mood and perceived stress, which explain, in part, improved sleep quality.     

Achtsamkeit im Team: Entwicklung eines Fragebogens und Hinweise zur Anwendung in der Praxis

Whereas the important role of individual mindfulness in organizations is more and more empirically supported, collective mindfulness—especially on the team level—is neglected. To foster research on mindfulness in teams, scientific sound questionnaires are important. Based on previous literature on collective mindfulness and semi-structured interviews this article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) aims at identifying relevant factors of mindfulness in teams and at developing a questionnaire based on these factors. The examination of 239 employees supports the factor structure which was assumed based on the interview results (deference to expertise; aspiration for flexibility; sensitivity to operations; reluctance to simplify interpretations; preoccupation with failure) and further hints at convergent and divergent validity. The application of the developed questionnaire to practice promoting mindfulness in teams is discussed.     

Mindfulness,Emotion and Behaviour: An Intervention Study with Chinese Migrant Children

Migrant children in China who move from rural to urban areas face significantly greater emotional and behavioural challenges than their urban peers. In recent decades, western countries have used mindfulness to enhance child psychosocial and behavioural outcomes. This approach has not yet been applied to rural‐to‐urban migrant children in China. This study utilised one‐group pretest‐posttest design to examine the effects of a 4‐week school‐based mindfulness intervention on Chinese migrant children's emotions and behaviours. The results show that mindfulness training significantly improved participants’ mindfulness. The training was particularly effective for those with lower mindfulness at baseline. There was significant decrease in students’ internalising and externalising problems after mindfulness training, particularly internalising problems.     

Effectiveness of mindfulness-based coloring for university students’ test anxiety

Abstract

Objective: This study compared the effectiveness of mindfulness coloring (mandala), free drawing/coloring, and a noncoloring control activity for university students’ test anxiety, and assessed the relationship of dispositional mindfulness and response to intervention on mindfulness and test anxiety states. Participants: University students (n?=?167; 81.4% female; M_age = 21.29?years, SD?=?4.46) were randomly assigned to a mandala (n?=?57), free draw/coloring (n?=?58), or noncoloring condition (n?=?52). Methods: Participants completed standardized measures assessing test anxiety and state mindfulness pre–postactivity before completing a test, and two dispositional mindfulness measures. Results: Participants in both coloring conditions reported significant decreases in test anxiety and significant increases in state mindfulness pre–postintervention, and participants in the control condition reported significant increases in test anxiety. Reports of preintervention state mindfulness and test anxiety fully mediated relations between dispositional mindfulness and postintervention state mindfulness and test anxiety. Conclusions: Implications for research and practice on mindfulness coloring and test anxiety are discussed.     

From Role Conflict to Job Burnout: A Mediation Model Moderated by Mindfulness

This study examined the moderated mediating effect of mindfulness as an emotional resource on the relationship between role conflict and burnout (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism, and professional inefficacy) via negative affect. Participants were 481 adult employees in South Korea who provided self-report data 2 times with a 2-week interval. The results indicated that mindfulness moderated the relationship between role conflict and negative affect such that the effect of role conflict on negative affect was reduced when mindfulness was high. Furthermore, Time 1 role conflict had conditional indirect effects on 3 facets of burnout measured at Time 2 through Time 1 negative affect depending on the levels of Time 1 mindfulness. The findings suggest that mindfulness may prevent the development of negative affect from role conflict, ultimately reducing the impact of role conflict on burnout. Practitioners should introduce workplace mindfulness programs to help employees cope with burnout more effectively.     

Mindful relating: exploring mindfulness and emotion repertoires in intimate relationships

This study tested the theory that mindfulness contributes to greater intimate relationship satisfaction by fostering more relationally skillful emotion repertoires. A sample of married couples was administered measures of mindful awareness, emotion skills, and marital quality. We hypothesized that mindfulness would be associated with both marital quality and partners' emotion skills and that the association between mindfulness and marital quality would be mediated by emotion repertoire skill. Findings suggested that emotion skills and mindfulness are both related to marital adjustment, and that skilled emotion repertoires, specifically those associated with identifying and communicating emotions, as well as the regulation of anger expression, fully mediate the association between mindfulness and marital quality. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Field Education in the Present Moment: Evaluating a 14-Week Pedagogical Model to Increase Mindfulness Practice

Social work practitioners increasingly use mindfulness techniques, and research into the impact of this practice is being explored by multiple related disciplines, such as psychology and education. Cultivating the potential benefits of mindfulness at multiple practice levels necessitates curricular integration of mindfulness training. This article reports on the evaluation of a 14-week mindfulness-based pedagogical model implemented in two sections of social work field seminars. Using a pretest and posttest survey design that included an existing five-dimension mindfulness scale, students exhibited significant change in three facets of mindfulness: observing, nonjudgment of inner experience, and nonreactivity to inner experience. Implications for social work education and directions for future research are explored.     

The role of mindfulness in romantic relationship satisfaction and responses to relationship stress

Two studies examined the role of mindfulness in romantic relationship satisfaction and in responses to relationship stress. Using a longitudinal design, Study 1 found that higher trait mindfulness predicted higher relationship satisfaction and greater capacities to respond constructively to relationship stress. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings. Mindfulness was again shown to relate to relationship satisfaction; then, using a conflict discussion paradigm, trait mindfulness was found to predict lower emotional stress responses and positive pre- and postconflict change in perception of the relationship. State mindfulness was related to better communication quality during the discussion. Both studies indicated that mindfulness may play an influential role in romantic relationship well-being. Discussion highlights future research directions for this new area of inquiry.     

The Process of Personal Transformation for Adolescents Practicing Mindfulness Skills in an Alternative School Setting

This qualitative study examined the experiences of alternative school students as they participated in a mindfulness skills program. A 7-month school-based mindfulness skills program was integrated into the Grade 10 curriculum for high school students (N = 19; 10 boys and 9 girls, ages 15–17). Students engaged in mindfulness practices twice weekly during class time. Students practiced breath awareness, and seated, walking, and lying mindfulness meditation during the course of the program. Students completed initial and final questionnaires about their experiences as well as written journal entries based on their experiences in the program. At the completion of the program, 14 of the 19 program completers were interviewed (6 boys and 8 girls). Data analysis yielded two broad areas of perceived benefits of participation in the mindfulness skills program: intrapersonal benefits and interpersonal benefits. Intrapersonal benefits included themes of self-awareness and self-regulation (including cognition, emotions, and behavior). Interpersonal benefits included themes of building relationships (with peers, family members, and teachers) and learning to trust. These findings may be useful when planning school-based mindfulness programs and may serve as a guide for researchers studying mindfulness practices for youth.     

The Benefits of Dispositional Mindfulness in Physical Health: A Longitudinal Study of Female College Students

Abstract

Objective: This article examines the relationship between dispositional mindfulness, health behaviors (eg, sleep, eating, and exercise), and physical health. Participants: Participants included 441 college women. Methods: Women completed self-report surveys at the beginning and end of a 10-week academic quarter. The study was conducted over 5 academic quarters from fall 2008 to fall 2010. Results: Findings indicated that higher levels of dispositional mindfulness were related to healthier eating practices, better quality of sleep, and better physical health. Dispositional mindfulness contributed to better physical health even after controlling for traditional health habits. Finally, bidirectional mediational relationships were found between healthy eating and dispositional mindfulness as well as between sleep quality and dispositional mindfulness when physical health was the outcome variable. Conclusions: Findings suggest that incorporating mindfulness training into programming on college campuses may be beneficial, as results indicate that dispositional mindfulness is related to positive physical health among college students.     

Mindfulness and academic performance: An example of migrant children in China

Mindfulness emphasizes the awareness of the “here-and-now.” Studies in the recent decade have found that mindfulness can affect positive change in child and adolescent school performance. As an emerging field, however, the mechanisms and effects of mindfulness practice on academic performance for children in developing countries have not been elaborated sufficiently in previous studies. Using China as an example context, this paper examines the relationship between mindfulness practice and academic performance of migrant children, and explores the role of executive function in this relationship. Through a survey with 219 fifth-graders in two migrant schools in Beijing, this study validates the positive association between mindfulness, executive function, and better school grades in Chinese, math, and English tests. Additionally, this study adds empirical evidence to the roles of mindfulness in child development, and also sheds light on the pathway through which mindfulness positively correlates with academic performance. These findings provide implications for addressing child academic challenges and conducting further research among migrant children in China and beyond.     

Mindful leadership: mindfulness as a new antecedent of destructive and transformational leadership behavior

Purpose: While previous research has well-examined the stress reducing effects of mindfulness, much less is known, evidentially, about the impact that it might have on working behavior, particularly in the context of leadership. Against this background, the goal of our study was to examine whether mindfulness influences leadership behavior.Design: To answer this question, we used a two-source survey study consisting of 60 teams, examining trait mindfulness of leaders via self-evaluation and their leadership behavior through the eyes of their subordinates. To analyze the given data, we conducted regression analyses.Results: Our findings confirmed the hypothesized relationships. We found a negative relationship between leaders’ mindfulness and destructive leadership, as well as a positive one between leaders’ mindfulness and transformational leadership.Implications: The results of our study underline the importance of mindfulness as a potential tool to optimize leadership quality. In order to prevent destructive and promote transformational leadership, organizations should help to develop leaders’ mindfulness capacities.     

Achtsamkeit in der Beratung

In a theoretical analysis, the parallels of mindfulness in Buddhism, western philosophies and psychological research have been investigated and the common dimensions summarised. The basic aim of the empirical analysis was to find out which of these dimensions are part of the work of counselors who don’t work explicitly with mindfulness based techniques. Beyond that, conclusions have been drawn regarding ways in which mindfulness methods could be brought into more traditional counseling. Key examples chosen for this analysis are Introvision, Gestaltherapy and Systemic Counseling. Problem-centered Interviews with five counselors have been conducted and afterwards evaluated with the qualitative content analysis by Mayring (Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Techniken, Weinheim, Beltz, 2008). The results show that particular dimensions of mindfulness can also be found in counselings that are not explicitly mindfulness based.     

An Examination of the Association Between Relationship Mindfulness and Psychological and Relational Well-being in Committed Couples

Relationship mindfulness is the degree to which individuals tend to be mindful during interactions with romantic partners. In this study, we examined both the intrapersonal and interpersonal links between relationship mindfulness and psychological and relationship functioning in a sample of 219 couples who had been in their relationship for at least 1 year. Even when accounting for the general tendency to be mindful, relationship mindfulness was linked with markers of relationship well-being and psychological functioning, both intrapersonally and interpersonally. The findings bring to light the importance of considering relationship mindfulness in clinical work with couples that focuses on addressing deficiencies in relationship or psychological well-being.     

Mindfulness in Patients With Gambling Disorders

This study explored facets of mindfulness between patients diagnosed with a gambling disorder (n = 26) and a community sample of non-gambling-disordered individuals (n = 33). Multivariate statistics comparing group differences showed the gambling-disordered patients exhibited significantly lower levels of mindfulness, emotional regulation, stress coping, and impulse control compared to the non-gambling-disordered group. Overall, gambling severity was negatively associated with higher levels of mindfulness and positively linked to indices of emotional dysregulation, stress proneness, and impulsivity. Correlations between mindfulness and emotional dysregulation and impulsivity were much stronger than those between mindfulness and the severity of disordered gambling behaviors as measured by the National Opinion Research Center DSM Screen for Gambling Problems (NODS). These findings are discussed in the context of possible implications for future directions in exploring mindfulness-based interventions as a plausible intervention among those with gambling disorders.     

Achtsamkeit im organisationalen Kontext: Der Einfluss individueller und organisationaler Achtsamkeit auf resilientes Verhalten,psychische Gesundheit und Arbeitsengagement

This article in the journal Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation (GIO) presents mindfulness as a starting point for coping with the increasing and changing demands of today’s workplaces. Based on a differentiated analysis of mindfulness on the individual and organizational level, we discuss their separate contribution to resilient behavior in the workplace as well as on psychological well-being and work engagement. These assumptions were empirically verified. Overall, 172 persons participated in the study, which was implemented as a web-based questionnaire. The results showed that individual and organizational mindfulness independently contributed to resilient behavior in the workplace. Furthermore, individual mindfulness and resilient behavior promoted psychological well-being. Both individual and organizational mindfulness were significantly associated with work engagement. Additional analyses revealed that these effects were mediated by resilient behavior. In summary, the results demonstrated that individual and organizational mindfulness are distinct constructs whose influence on psychological well-being and work engagement could be partly explained by resilient behavior in the workplace.     

Effects of a Mindfulness Task on Women’s Sexual Response

Mindfulness-based interventions are effective at improving symptoms of sexual dysfunction in women. The mechanisms by which mindfulness improves sexual function are less clear. The main objective of our study was to investigate the impact of a mindfulness task on sexual response in women. Forty-one women (mean age = 27.2, SD = 5.6) participated in two laboratory sessions that each included two erotic films and one attention task that were presented in counterbalanced order. Both attention tasks consisted of a six-minute audio recording of either a modified body scan, focusing on genital arousal sensations (mindfulness condition), or a visualization exercise. Subjective and genital sexual arousal were measured continuously during stimulus presentation. The mindfulness task led to greater subjective and lower genital arousal. The agreement of subjective and genital sexual arousal (i.e., concordance) was greater in the mindfulness condition. Trait mindfulness was related to lower sexual arousal but also greater sexual concordance in women. Mindfulness-based interventions that encourage women to focus on physical arousal sensations in the here and now may be associated with women’s improved sexual function by enhancing feelings of sexual arousal during sexual activity and by increasing concordance between subjective and genital sexual arousal.     

Mindfulness and health behaviors in college students: The moderating role of sleep

Abstract

Objective: To examine the moderating effects of subjective sleep quality (SSQ) and sleep duration on the relationships between mindfulness and health behaviors (i.e. nutrition and exercise) among undergraduate students. The unique influence of the five facets (i.e. factors) of mindfulness (i.e. observing, describing, acting with awareness, nonreactivity to inner experience and nonjudging of inner experience) on students’ health behaviors was also explored. Participants: Three hundred fifty seven undergraduate students enrolled in U.S. colleges. Methods: Students completed an online survey. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine whether SSQ moderated the relationship between mindfulness and nutrition behavior. Results: SSQ moderated the relationship between mindfulness and nutrition behavior. The observe facet of mindfulness was the most predictive of nutrition behavior, whereas the observe and describe facets were the most predictive of exercise behavior. Conclusions: Interventions that target mindfulness and sleep quality may help promote healthy eating and increased exercise engagement in college students.