Dispositional Mindfulness over the Course of a Mindfulness Intervention Mediates Links between Interparental Conflict and Depressive Symptoms

• In Event: Individual Differences in Individual’s Subjective Experiences of Interparental Conflict: Examining Heterogeniety in Developmental Risk Pathways

Abstract

Exposure to destructive interparental conflict (IPC) is a potent stressor that increases the risk for mental health problems in children and adolescents (e.g., Lucas-Thompson et al., 2017). The mindfulness stress buffering hypothesis posits that high levels of mindfulness protect individuals from the negative health effects of stressful experiences (Creswell & Lindsay, 2014), such as IPC. Although there is some support for the mindfulness stress buffering hypothesis (e.g., Ciesla et al., 2012), studies have focused on adults, trait-like measures of mindfulness (even though day-to-day mindfulness varies meaningfully in adults, e.g., Shiyko et al., 2019), and general hassles or life-event stressors. Also, there have been no direct tests of stress buffering in the context of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI). Here, we test the extent to which mindfulness buffers the effects of IPC on depressive symptoms in adolescence, using intensive repeated measurements across the course of an MBI. Adolescence is a time of increased sensitivity to stressors and risk for developing mental health disorders (Fairchild, 2011). Adolescents are still developing the meta-cognitive abilities that allow them to be mindful; therefore, compared to adults, it may be more challenging for adolescents to effectively utilize mindfulness in their daily lives when faced with stressors. Thus, we tested the competing hypothesis that IPC reduces daily levels of mindfulness, which in turn increase adjustment problems.
Participants were 19 adolescents (12-18 years old, M = 14yrs, SD = 1.97; 70% female) who completed a 6-week MBI (Learning 2 Breathe; Broderick, 2013). Adolescents were 5% Latino; ethnicity was 5% American Indian, 10% Asian Pacific Islander, 65% Caucasian, and 30% other. A range of income and parental education levels were represented. Each night across the intervention period, participants were asked to complete daily diaries measuring mindfulness (mindful attention and self-compassion), destructive IPC, and symptoms of depression.
Adolescents provided 518 days of observations (M=28.8 days of data per adolescent). Multi-level models were used to test moderation (i.e., stress buffering) as well as mediation, within-person. There were no significant interactions between IPC and mindfulness in relation to depressive symptoms, providing no evidence for stress buffering. Instead, there were significant indirect effects from IPC to mindfulness to depressive symptoms (indirect effect: b=.13, SE= .06, p=0.025). Within person, on days that adolescents reported greater destructive IPC, they also reported lower levels of mindfulness, relative to their own average. In turn, lower day-to-day levels of mindfulness predicted depressive symptoms greater than within-person averages. These results suggest that it is challenging for adolescents to remain mindful in the face of IPC, even when they are receiving explicit instruction about how to use mindfulness during stress via an MBI. Implications and future directions will be discussed.

Authors

• Rachel Lucas-Thompson, Colorado State University
  Presenting Author

• Natasha S. Seiter, Colorado State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie Rayburn, Colorado State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Reagan L. Miller, Colorado State University
  Non-Presenting Author