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Mindfulness

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14-06-2022 | ORIGINAL PAPER

Mindfulness, Parental Attributions, and Parenting: the Moderating Role of Child Mental Health

Auteurs: Hali Kil, Serena Shukla, Brendan F. Andrade

Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness | Uitgave 7/2022

Abstract

Objectives

Research interest in mindfulness, the capacity for present-oriented, nonjudgmental attention and awareness, and its relation to parenting has been growing in recent years. However, factors facilitating the association between mindfulness and parenting are not yet well understood. In the present study, we examined whether parents’ biased causal thinking about children’s misbehaviors, i.e., parental attributions, may mediate the link between parents’ dispositional mindfulness and parenting. Given that parents of children with clinically elevated mental health difficulties tend to report more biased parental attributions, we further examined whether the proposed mediation may differ across parents of children with and without clinical diagnoses or referrals for mental health difficulties.

Methods

Parents (59.8% mothers) of 8- to 12-year-old children with (n = 157) and without (n = 99) clinical diagnoses or referrals for mental health difficulties participated in online surveys assessing their mindfulness, parental attributions, and negative parenting behaviors.

Results

More mindful parents reported less negative parenting, with the link significantly mediated by less biased parent-directed attributions, but not child-directed attributions. The mediating effect via parent-directed attributions was significantly moderated by the child’s clinical status: the effect was retained only for parents of children with clinical diagnoses or referrals for mental health difficulties. No significant moderation effect emerged for child-directed attributions.

Conclusions

The results provide initial support for the links among parents’ mindfulness, parental attributions, and parenting. The present findings suggest that parental mindfulness may be important for less biased parental attributions, with implications for parenting behaviors at least in the context of children’s mental health disorders.

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Titel: Mindfulness, Parental Attributions, and Parenting: the Moderating Role of Child Mental Health
Auteurs: Hali Kil
Serena Shukla
Brendan F. Andrade
Publicatiedatum: 14-06-2022
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Mindfulness / Uitgave 7/2022
Print ISSN: 1868-8527
Elektronisch ISSN: 1868-8535
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01916-5

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Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

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