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Social Foundations of Mindfulness: Priming Attachment Anxiety Reduces Emotion Regulation and Mindful Attention

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Abstract

Recent evidence indicates that mindfulness is associated with adult attachment, such that individuals with a secure attachment style also tend to be more mindful. In the present experiment, we extend prior cross-sectional research by examining whether priming attachment insecurity (anxiety and avoidance) leads to a decrease in state mindfulness and whether this is mediated by decreased state emotion regulation. Priming attachment anxiety led to a decrease in state emotion regulation which, in turn, was associated with decreased state mindfulness. That is, when individuals experience heightened anxiety about relationships and abandonment, they experience difficulties in the regulation of emotion, which reduces capacity for mindfulness. No such effects were found for priming attachment avoidance. Results of the present research provide experimental evidence that attachment anxiety may be related to low mindfulness via difficulties in emotion regulation and provides some preliminary evidence of the social foundations of mindfulness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Griffith, Australia

    Sarah Melen & Analise O’Donovan

  2. School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

    Christopher A. Pepping

  3. School of Applied Psychology, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Griffith, Australia

    Analise O’Donovan

Authors
  1. Sarah Melen
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  2. Christopher A. Pepping
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  3. Analise O’Donovan
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Correspondence to Christopher A. Pepping.

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Research Involving Human Participants

All procedures performed in the studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Melen, S., Pepping, C.A. & O’Donovan, A. Social Foundations of Mindfulness: Priming Attachment Anxiety Reduces Emotion Regulation and Mindful Attention. Mindfulness 8, 136–143 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0587-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0587-8

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