Differential Susceptibility to the Benefits of Mindful Parenting Depending on Child Dispositional Mindfulness

Mindful parenting has been proposed as a contributing factor for reducing psychological problems in children. However, mixed results regarding the association between mindful parenting and child psychological problems suggest that the benefits could be moderated by children’s characteristics. This study, based on differential susceptibility to parenting models, aims to examine whether child dispositional mindfulness profiles can moderate the impact of mindful parenting, so that children with a poorer dispositional mindfulness profile benefit more when their parents present a mindful parenting style.

A total of 348 parents and their adolescent children participated in a two-wave longitudinal study with a 1-year interval. Parents answered measures of mindful parenting (mindful discipline and being in the moment with the child), and children answered measures of dispositional mindfulness, depressive symptoms, aggressive behavior, and peer victimization. The adolescents were classified according to their dispositional mindfulness profiles.

Mindful discipline predicted reduced depressive symptoms, aggression, and victimization after 1 year, whereas, being with the child only predicted reduced depressive symptoms. The results showed an interaction effect, according to which adolescents with poor dispositional mindfulness (i.e., high scores in observing and low scores in nonjudging and acting with awareness) benefited more from mindful parenting.

Adolescents with a poor dispositional mindfulness profile benefit the most from mindful parenting. Adolescents with an adequate mindfulness profile tend to show lower levels of aggression and depressive symptoms, regardless of whether their parents exhibit a mindful parenting style.