Differential Contribution of the Five Facets of Mindfulness to Well-being and Psychological Distress

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ORIGINAL PAPER

Differential Contribution of the Five Facets of Mindfulness to Well-being and Psychological Distress Anja Roemer 1

&

Anna Sutton 1 & Carsten Grimm 2 & Oleg N. Medvedev 1

Accepted: 21 October 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract Objectives Mindfulness has been shown to have beneficial effects with regard to improving well-being and lowering levels of distress. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) has identified facets reflecting distinct mindfulness capacities, but it is not known yet to what extent they contribute individually to important outcomes such as well-being and distress. This study aimed to identify the most relevant facets and their unique contributions to distress and well-being to potentially enhance mindfulness-based interventions targeting these outcomes. Methods The present study assessed dispositional mindfulness, well-being and psychological distress in a sample of young adults (n = 239) and analyzed the differential contributions of mindfulness facets to distress and well-being outcome variables using stepwise multiple linear regression analyses. Results Individual differences in well-being and distress levels were best explained by different facets of mindfulness. The Nonreacting facet was the strongest contributor to well-being explaining 25% of variance in well-being scores, and after accounting for its contribution, Describing was the second largest contributor explaining additional 9%. In contrast, Acting with awareness was the strongest inverse contributor to distress explaining 20% variance and after controlling for it, Nonreacting explained merely 7% of additional differences in distress scores. After accounting for these main contributors, other facets explained only negligible amount of variance or were non-significant contributors. Conclusions The present study indicates that different capacities contribute differentially to well-being and distress. These findings may be useful for enhancing effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions by tailoring practices to target wellbeing or psychological distress. Keywords Dispositional mindfulness . Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire . Well-being . Psychological distress . Psychological health

Research over the last couple of years has shown that mindfulness has a positive effect on mental health outcomes such as well-being and distress (Hwang et al. 2019; Krägeloh et al. 2019; Strohmaier et al. 2020). Mindfulness involves the attention to and awareness of experiences in the present moment as well as being observational and nonjudgmental of arising internal and external stimuli (Kabat-Zinn 2003). The heightened state of awareness and attention in concert

* Anja Roemer [email protected] 1

School of Psychology, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

2

New Zealand Defence Force, Wellington, New Zealand

with an observational and nonjudgmental stance enables one to experience stimuli and internal processes just as what they are without automatic