Differential Associations Between Facets of Mindfulness and Forgiveness: The Roles of Nonjudgment and Awareness

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:45 pm - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Methodology, Measurement, and Mechanisms to Social Emotional Learning

Abstract

Given recent interest in adult SEL, the present study explored the interplay between teachers’ social and emotional competencies by investigating the following: Does teachers’ use of cognitive reappraisal mediate the association between 1) mindful nonjudgment and 2) mindful awareness and their tendency to forgive? Structural equation modeling using data from 516 Kindergarten-12th grade teachers found that cognitive reappraisal mediated the association between nonjudgment and teachers’ forgiveness (β = .07, SE = .02, p < .01). Awareness negatively predicted teachers’ forgiveness and was not mediated by reappraisal (β = .05, SE = .03, p = .09). These results expand our understanding of adult SEL by demonstrating that facets of mindfulness differentially predict teachers’ social (i.e., forgiveness) and emotional (i.e., reappraisal) competencies.

Authors

• Zachary T. Schornick, University of Alabama

• Kristina L. McDonald, University of Alabama

• Summer Braun, University of Alabama