Abstract
Mindfulness is typically understood as non-judgmental, focused attention on the present moment, although it may be conceptualized as a state, a trait, and an outcome of intervention. There is a limited understanding of the physiological effects of state and trait mindfulness, and it has been a challenge to the research community to measure these effects. This study examined whether state and trait mindfulness are associated with reduced stress response activation in healthy young adults. Fifty-four undergraduate participants completed self-ratings of state and trait mindfulness, and continuous measures of psychophysiological reactivity (i.e., skin conductance response) before, during, and after an interview about a recurrent stressor. Results indicated that individuals with greater self-reported state mindfulness had lower sympathetic psychophysiological activation than those with lower state mindfulness. Moreover, those with greater self-reported state mindfulness experienced greater drops in psychophysiological activation following a stressful task. However, differences in psychophysiological activation were not evident when comparing those with higher and lower self-reported trait mindfulness. The findings suggest that state mindfulness, or “being in the moment”, rather than trait mindfulness results in less engagement of metabolically costly psychophysiological activation in response to stress. Thus, intentional mindfulness during a stressful event may be important for decreasing sympathetic activation, resulting in lower bodily stress.
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The data for this study was collected by the second author and her research team as part of her multi-part dissertation project.
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All procedures for this study were approved by the university’s research ethics board and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. All participants gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.
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Scavone, A., Kadziolka, M.J. & Miller, C.J. State and Trait Mindfulness as Predictors of Skin Conductance Response to Stress. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 45, 221–228 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-020-09467-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-020-09467-y