The Associations between Mindfulness Processes and Emotional Distress Symptoms: A Network Analysis

Mindfulness is a process of attentional engagement and serves as a protective factor for emotional distress. Although an increasing number of studies examined the impact of mindfulness on emotional distress (anxiety and depressive symptoms), few have explored the micro-level relationships between mindfulness and emotional distress from the perspective of psychopathology networks. This study examined specific mindfulness processes and emotional distress symptoms at item level.

A total of 724 young adults (M_age = 19.27 years, SD = 1.06) participated in this study. They completed a set of standardized instruments that assessed mindfulness processes and emotional distress symptoms. Network analysis was used to explore the distinct associations between mindfulness processes and emotional distress symptoms.

In the mindfulness cluster, attention-related processes (versus acceptance processes) were associated with emotional distress symptoms. “Distraction” was linked to lack of initiative and social anxiety. “Past preoccupation” was associated with depressive symptoms, while “Future preoccupation” was associated with anxiety symptoms. In the emotional distress cluster, the environmental adaptive symptoms “Lack of initiative” and “Social anxiety” had lower negative Bridge Expected Influence (BEI) values compared to other symptoms, indicating that they inhibit the connection between the emotional distress symptom network and the mindfulness process network.

This study provides general description of the micro-level relationship between mindfulness and emotional distress by analyzing specific mindfulness processes and emotional distress symptoms.

This study is not preregistered.