Abstract
Objectives
Rumination, a risk factor for the development of psychopathology that often emerges during adolescence, has been successfully targeted in mindfulness interventions; however, the mechanism is unclear. Acquiring mindfulness skills may help reduce repetitive ruminative thinking and in turn alleviate negative emotions. The goal of the present study was to test whether changes in trait mindfulness accounted for the reductions in rumination following a brief mindfulness intervention.
Method
Ruminative adolescents (n = 152; 59% girls, 18% racial/ethnic minority, mean age = 13.72, SD = 0.89) were randomly assigned to use a mobile app 3 times per day for 3 weeks that delivered brief mindfulness exercises or a mood monitoring only control. They completed questionnaires to assess rumination, mindfulness, and depression at baseline, post-intervention and follow-up at 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 6 months post-intervention.
Results
We ran a parallel causal mediation model with bootstrapping to examine whether changes in facets of mindfulness (Nonjudgment, Nonreactivity, Describe, Awareness, Observe) mediated the effect of treatment group on change in rumination. A significant indirect effect of Treatment Group on Rumination emerged through Nonjudgment. Next, we ran a serial mediation model predicting depressive symptoms during the follow-up period (12 weeks and 6 months post-intervention) from Treatment Group through Nonjudgment (immediate post-intervention) and rumination (at 6 weeks post-intervention). Results from this model were significant.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that a brief mindfulness intervention increases nonjudgmental awareness, thereby reducing rumination and subsequent depressive symptoms. Understanding these mechanisms may help tailor interventions for at-risk youth.
Preregistration
This study was registered with Clinicaltrials.gov (Identifier NCT03900416).
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Data Availability
Data are available upon request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the research assistants who helped with this project, especially Eliana Whitehouse, Eleanor Horner, Liesl Hostetter, Moeka Kamiya, and Elsa Hammerdahl.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
No AI tools were used in this research.
Funding
Funding was provided by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under Award R15MH116303 to LMH. CAW was partially supported by NIMH R01MH116969, NCCIH R01AT011002, the Tommy Fuss Fund and a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.
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Lori M. Hilt: Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Funding
Acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Resources,
Writing- original draft, Writing- review and editing. Caroline M. Swords: Methodology, Project Administration, Investigation, Writing- original draft, Writing- review and editing. Nina Austria: Formal analysis, Visualization, Writing- reviewing and editing. Christian Webb: Formal analysis, Writing- review and editing. Justus Wahl: Writing—original draft, Writing- reviewing and editing. Layne Eklund: Writing—original draft, Writing- reviewing and editing.
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Hilt, L.M., Swords, C.M., Austria, N. et al. Nonjudgment Mediates the Effect of a Brief Smartphone-Delivered Mindfulness Intervention on Rumination in a Randomized Controlled Trial with Adolescents. Mindfulness 15, 1208–1219 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-024-02363-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-024-02363-0