Mindfulness and Well-being: A Longitudinal Serial Mediation Model of Psychological Adjustment and COVID-19 Fear

Numerous studies have been carried out globally related to COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, most of which were cross-sectional. Therefore, there is a need for longitudinal studies to fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on mental health. In the present longitudinal study, our aim was to examine whether psychological adjustment and fear of COVID-19 would serially mediate the relationship between mindfulness and well-being in a Turkish sample (N = 300, M_age=22.21 years, SD = 3.01, 60.3% female). The results of a two-wave longitudinal study were analyzed via bootstrapping. The findings of the serial mediation analyses showed that mindfulness at T1 exhibited a significant indirect effect on well-being at T2 through psychological adjustment at T2 and fear of COVID-19 at T2 controlling for the effects of age and gender at T1. These findings help clarify the mechanisms underlying the association among mindfulness, psychological adjustment, COVID-19 fear, and well-being.