8/7/2019 Emotion-regulation_and_mindfulness

1/2

EMOTION REGULATION AND MINDFULNESS

Shannon M. Erismana, Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault

b, and Lizabeth Roemer

a

aUniversity of Massachusetts Boston

bNow at VA Boston Healthcare System

contact: shannon.erisman@umb.edu

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the correlational relationship

between mindfulness skills and emotion regulation in anattempt to elucidate the role of mindfulness in healthy emotion

regulation. Questionnaires were distributed to 404 (254female and 191 male) undergraduate students at a large, urban

university. Results indicate that mindfulness does correlatewith emotion regulation, even while controlling for symptoms

of depression, anxiety and stress. These results providesupport for the usefulness of mindfulness skills in facilitating

adaptive emotion regulation.

INTRODUCTION

Emotion regulation has been inconsistently defined in

the literature. Some researchers have conceptualized emotion

regulation as controlling emotional experience (e.g., Kopp,1989). Others consider emotions as potentially serving a

valuable function, and therefore conceptualize emotion

regulation more broadly. Such a definition of emotionregulation may include the ability to act in accordance to

values while experiencing negative emotion (Gratz & Roemer,2004). More generally, adaptive regulation of emotion may

involve the ability to flexibly regulate emotion in accordancewith what the environment demands (Thompson, 1994).

Mindfulness may be one way to work towardsadaptive emotion regulation. Mindfulness has been defined

as paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in thepresent moment, and nonjudgmentally (Kabat-Zinn, 1994).

More recently, Bishop and colleagues (2004) conceptualizedmindfulness as the maintenance of attention on the present

moment, as well as bringing a quality of curiosity, openness,and acceptance to that awareness. Mindfulness, through

bringing awareness to emotional experiences in a way that iscompassionate and nonjudgmental, may facilitate a healthy

engagement with emotions (Hayes & Feldman, 2004).The current study is a preliminary investigation of the

relationship between mindfulness and emotion regulation, asmeasured by self-report questionnaires. A measure of

depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms was alsoincorporated in the study in order to determine whether

mindfulness has a unique relationship with emotionregulation, beyond the expected shared relationship with

symptoms of distress. Therefore, we hypothesized thatmindfulness would be correlated with emotion regulation.

Furthermore, we hypothesized that mindfulness woulduniquely predict emotion regulation, beyond the anticipated

shared relationship with symptoms of distress.

METHODSA total of 404 (141 male, 254 female) undergraduate

students from a large, urban university completedquestionnaire packets as part of a larger study. Participants

ranged in age from 18 to 67, with a mean age of 23.16 years

(SD = 7.186). The racial backgrounds identified byparticipants were as follows: 18.8% Asian/Pacific Islander,

13.1% African American/Black, 7.7% Hispanic, 6.2%multiracial, 4% other, 2.7% Middle Eastern, and 0.7% Native

American.Measures

The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21: Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) is composed of three scales:

depression, anxiety, and stress. Each scale consists of sevenitems, which are rated on a four-point Likert-type scale.

The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS:Gratz & Roemer, 2004)contains 36 items, measured on a five

point Likert-type scale, that assess six facets of difficulties inregulating emotion: nonacceptance of emotional responses

(accept), difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior (when

upset; goals), impulse control difficulties (when upset;impulse), lack of emotional awareness (aware), limited access

to effective emotion regulation strategies (strategies), and lack

of emotional clarity (clarity). In this study, we used theoverall score as well as the goals, impulse control, and

strategies subscales, as these subscales do not conceptuallyoverlap with definitions of mindfulness, whereas the other

three (accept, aware, and clarity) do.The Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS:

Brown & Ryan, 2003) is a 15-item questionnaire that assessesa single factor, present attention and awareness. The items are

rated on a six-point Likert-type scale.The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS: Neff, 2003) was

included to assess the nonjudgmental, compassionate aspect ofmindfulness, which is not directly captured by the MAAS. It

contains 26 items, rated on a five-point Likert-type scale. Itincludes six subscales: self-kindness, common humanity,

mindfulness, over-identification, self-judgment, and isolation.The self-kindness subscale was used in this study as a measure

of accepting responses to ones experiences.

RESULTS

Zero-order correlations were conducted to examine

the relationship between emotion regulation and mindfulnessvariables. Analyses revealed significant intercorrelations

between these variables (see Table 1).

A series of hierarchical regressions were conductedin order to determine if mindfulness and self-compassion

predicted emotion regulation, beyond variance accounted forby symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress (see table 2).

Table 1. Intercorrelations between mindfulness and emotion

regulation scores

DERS total Goals Impulsivity Strategie

MAAS -.48* -.36* -.39* -.39*

SCS kindness -.37* -.19* -.26* -.32*

8/7/2019 Emotion-regulation_and_mindfulness

2/2

2

Table 2. Summary of last step of regression equations

predicting DERS scores, with DASS scales in the first step

Outcome

variable

R2 Mindfulness

(MAAS)

Self-

kindness(SCS)

DERS total .06* -.17* -.22*Goal .02* -.15* -.09*Impulse .03* -.11* -.14*

Strategies .02* -.04 -.15**p < .05

The first regression analysis examined the ability ofmindfulness and self-compassion scores to predict total

emotion dysregulation scores. The overall model wassignificant (Adj R

2= .52, F[5,403] = 88.12, p < .001). The

DASS scales significantly predicted emotion dysregulationtotal scores (R

2 = .46, F = 114.39, p < .001). Mindfulness

and self-compassion scores significantly predicted emotiondysregulation, over and above the variance accounted for by

stress, depression, and anxiety (R2 = .06, F = 26.68, p