Graduate Program

Clinical Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

2010

Thesis Director

Ronan Bernas

Thesis Committee Member

Russell Gruber

Thesis Committee Member

Amy Brausch

Abstract

Mindfulness is defined as a state of mind where one is able to attend to and be aware of what is taking place in the immediate present in a non-judgmental manner (Brown & Ryan, 2003; Kabbat-Zinn, 1994). Although originating in Eastern spirituality and philosophy, mindfulness has migrated to Western culture within the last 30 years (Anderson, Lau, Segal, & Bishop, 2007). A number of therapies, either based in mindfulness or incorporating aspects of it, have yielded positive results on a variety of conditions, such as depression and borderline personality disorder. However, the specific avenues that mindfulness takes to elicit these beneficial results have not fully been uncovered. Shapiro, Carlson, Astin, and Freedman (2006) presented a tentative model of mindfulness' relationship with psychological well-being, proposing that this relationship was mediated by self-regulation of attention, values clarification, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional flexibility, and exposure. Carmody, Baer, Lykins, and Olendzki (2009) tested this model and found some evidence to support it.

The purpose of the present study was to test Shapiro et al.'s (2006) model and replicate Carmody et al.'s (2009) results, while investigating which of the five facets of mindfulness are most predictive of well-being and whether mindfulness predicted wellbeing over and beyond the proposed mediators. Five hundred thirty-seven Eastern Illinois University students responded to a battery of assessments measuring mindfulness, self-regulation of attention, values clarification, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional flexibility, exposure, symptoms of depression, symptoms of anxiety, perceived stress, life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect. Mindfulness exhibited an indirect relationship with depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and negative affect, being fully Mindfulness and Well-Being mediated by self-regulation of attention, values clarification, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional flexibility, and/or exposure. However, mindfulness did have a more direct, though partially mediated, relationship with perceived stress and positive affect. Followup analyses indicated that although the mindfulness facets of 'acting with awareness', 'non-judging', 'observing', and 'non-reactivity' added unique predictive value, the effect sizes were rather limited. The facet of 'describing' did not predict any of the well-being outcomes. Implications of this research on the field of mindfulness and psychotherapy, as well as suggestions for future research, were discussed.

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