Author: Pearson MR1, Lawless AK1, Brown DB1, Bravo AJ2
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, & Addictions, University of New Mexico.
<sup>2</sup>Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University.
Conference/Journal: Pers Individ Dif.
Date published: 2015 Apr 1
Other:
Volume ID: 76 , Pages: 33-38 , Word Count: 209
In non-meditating samples, distinct facets of mindfulness are found to be negatively correlated, preventing the meaningful creation of a total mindfulness score. The present study used person-centered analyses to distinguish subgroups of college students based on their mindfulness scores, which allows the examination of individuals who are high (or low) on all facets of mindfulness. Using the Lo-Mendell-Rubin Adjusted LRT test, we settled on a 4-class solution that included a high mindfulness group (high on all 5 facets, N = 245), low mindfulness group (moderately low on all 5 facets, N = 563), judgmentally observing group (high on observing, but low on non-judging and acting with awareness, N =63), and non-judgmentally aware group (low on observing, but high on non-judging and acting with awareness, N =70). Consistent across all emotional outcomes including depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms (i.e., worry), affective instability, and distress intolerance, we found that the judgmentally observing group had the most maladaptive emotional outcomes followed by the low mindfulness group. Both the high mindfulness group and the non-judgmentally aware group had the most adaptive emotional outcomes. We discuss the implications of person-centered analyses to exploring mindfulness as it relates to important psychological health outcomes.
KEYWORDS: Anxiety; College Students; Depression; Distress Tolerance; Lability; Latent Profile Analysis; Mindfulness; Person-Centered Analysis
PMID: 25530649 PMCID: PMC4269250 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2014.11.009