The effects of an eight-week mindfulness training on mood in a Chinese urban sample seeking stress reduction: the chain mediating role of mindfulness and rumination

This study aims to investigate the efficacy of an eight-week mindfulness training intervention on improving mood among a Chinese urban sample seeking stress reduction and to explore the potential mediating effect of mindfulness and rumination.

Fifty-seven participants were recruited and randomly assigned to either the mindfulness training group or a waitlist control group. The mindfulness training group received an eight-week mindfulness intervention, while the waitlist control group received no intervention during this period. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Brief Profile of Mood States (BPOMS), and the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS) were assessed at both pre- and post-test.

The final analysis included 52 participants (24 in the mindfulness training group and 28 in the waitlist control group). Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that, compared with the control group, participants who received mindfulness training showed significant improvements in their FFMQ Total Score (p < .01), Observing score (p < .05), and Non-reactivity score (p < .01); BPOMS Total Score (p < .01), Depression-dejection (p < .01), Anger-hostility (p < .01), and Tension-anxiety (p < .05); as well as RRS Total Score, Symptom Rumination, and Reflective Pondering (all p < .05). Mediation analysis of mindfulness training intervention on negative mood revealed a significant chain mediating effect of improvements in mindfulness and reductions in maladaptive rumination (95% CI = [0.0022, 0.2459], excluding 0).

Mindfulness training can effectively improve the negative mood of urban populations facing stress through the mechanism of enhancing mindfulness and reducing rumination.